Climate change

Climate change is having a major impact in the Himalayan region in terms of water regime. In particular, some villages in upper Mustang face an increased risk of landslides and flooding during the monsoon season and a major decrease in the amount of water available for irrigating fields during the spring due to a reduced snow supply in the mountains. This has prompted three villages to consider relocation to more fertile and safer areas.

Considering that there are many issues involved in relocating an entire community (sense of belonging, conflicts over access to resources, distribution of the new land,…), and that it can be more complex than initially imagined, this project aims to identify the most appropriate and sustainable strategy to address the current climate challenge, answering the question: “is it appropriate to relocate the entire village or not? If yes, under what conditions can this be done successfully? If not, what is the alternative to solve the problems locally?”.

In a first phase, Kam For Sud, in collaboration with the SUPSI’s Institute of Earth Sciences and the Lo Mustang Foundation, therefore studied the situation in three villages severely affected by the water crisis: Samdzong, Yara and Dheye. A multidisciplinary working group analyzed the possibilities of obviating water shortages and natural hazards through on-site technical interventions, studying meteorological and climatic data and models and comparing a number of parameters of the original settlement with the potential relocation site. All families involved were also surveyed in order to assess sociocultural aspects as well.

All three villages of Samdzong, Yara and Dheye rely on water sources of snow origin. Due to global warming, however, snow is becoming less and less abundant, and since the available water resources are already fully utilized, there is no margin to compensate for the reduction in snow mass. The working group has identified technical measures to improve catchments, reduce losses along irrigation canals, and improve the method of distributing water to different plots, resulting in significant water gains. However, the study of climate data and models has provided a dramatic scenario for Mustang: a temperature increase of 6 to 10 degrees is expected by the end of the century. Considering this, possible technical measures would solve the problem only in the short term, while the issue would recur in a not-too-distant future.

It therefore appears impossible for Samdzong and Dheye to adapt to living in their current settlements by reducing the amount of water available, that is, by reducing agricultural productivity. Of the three, Yara is the only village that might be able to reduce water consumption and thus agricultural production by diversifying its economic activities, due to its geographical location along a tourist route.

The people of Samdzong and Dheye have decided to move to the lands of Namashung (reservoir six times larger than Samdzong’s) and Thangchung (reservoir thirty-six times larger than Dheye’s) respectively, both of which are supplied by water sources of (at least partly) glacial origin. This will ensure sufficient water for the villages, at any rate until the end of the century and probably beyond. Although the elders of both communities are reluctant to leave their home village, the strong social cohesion, the deep sense of community and the concern for the future of the younger generation spur them to adapt to the majority decision.

To ensure water supply (drinking water and irrigation water) in the new settlement of Dheye and to improve water capture and distribution in Yara, Kam For Sud carried out specific technical consultancy in a second phase of the project.

Kam For Sud distanced itself from the Samdzong relocation project. There is in fact a risk of collapse of a glacial lake located upstream, which would cause a sudden severe flood. On the other hand, two debris flow events that can be traced back to the collapse of glacial lakes in the Chumaka Khola basin (which occurred in 1984 and 1987) have already encroached on the area designated for the future Namashung camps with gravel and blocks up to more than 2 cubic meters in size.

Dheye village, with the support of a French NGO, built a new settlement in Thangchung, while maintaining the old village as a kind of mountain pasture.

The village of Yara has accepted the challenge of staying on its own land and diversifying its economic activities. In a third phase of the project, Kam For Sud then offered landless families in Yara a herd of a hundred goats with a microcredit program linked to it and introduced a community orchard for the benefit of the entire community.

Given the interest generated by the orchard in the region, it was subsequently proposed to all five villages in the district: Yara, Ghara, Dheye, Tange and Surkhang/Dhi, in collaboration with the French NGO Bessin-Népal. Ten different varieties of apple trees have been planted, totaling about eighty trees in each of the five villages. Technical accompaniment is still underway regarding orchard management (irrigation, pruning, fertilizing, pest control, grafting).