Ecosystem-based adaptation: the key to addressing climate change in Nepal

All governments in developing countries face the challenge of addressing climate change impacts and identifying the best ways to help their people adapt, with ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) an increasingly popular response. Research in Nepal suggests that EbA approaches can 1) boost community adaptive capacity or resilience, 2) help ecosystems produce services for local communities and withstand climate change impacts and other stressors, and 3) be financially and economically viable. Despite EbA’s potential in Nepal, a number of policy, institutional and political obstacles to implementation remain. This briefing explores these challenges and identifies opportunities and priorities for scaling up EbA.