Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal has conducted a national climate change impact survey among 5,060 households and published the ‘National Climate Change Impact Survey 2016’ report. However, the report did not integrate the people perceptions and instrumental records of climate.  GIIS researchers Uttam Babu Shrestha, Sujata Shrestha, and Asheshwor Man Shrestha compared instrumentally observed trends of climate variables with the peoples’ perception of climate change in Nepal using quantitative and spatial techniques. In the study published in Climatic change journal, they assessed annual and seasonal trends of temperature and precipitation, onsets of seasons, and trends of climate extremes, based on gridded climate datasets.

It was shown that Nepal is experiencing consistent warming, increasing hot days and nights, and increasing annual precipitation, wet spells, heavy precipitation and decreasing dry spells. According to the study, locals accurately perceived the shifts in temperature but their perceptions of precipitation change did not converge with the instrumental records. They concluded that combining local perceptions with observed climate data provide valuable information to support policies to reduce climate-related risk and enhance climate change adaptation.

Full paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02418-5