Impacts of Climate Change setting Extra stress to Majhi community

Climate Change is increasingly being accepted as a major issues facing Nepal (ICIMOD, working paper 2014/3). The general trends corroborated by the ground-level observations of various communities in Nepal, do give a basic framework of identified and projected change (Bartlett et. al. 2010). As a nation, Nepal is therefore extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change- especially those related to water resources. Many of these changes are already felt (NCVST 2009; ICIMOD 2009; Eriksson et al. 2009).

The 2011 census listed the population as belonging to 125 caste and ethnic groups, including 63 indigenous peoples, 59 castes (including 15 Dalit castes), and 3 religious groups, including Muslim groups. The indigenous nationalities (Adivasi Janajati) of Nepal comprise 35.81% of the total population of 26,494,504 persons. The Marginalized indigenous community is most vulnerable to impacts of Climate change.

Who are Majhi 

The direct translation of Majhi into English is ‘fisherman’. The Majhis are one of the indigenous peoples of the nation of Nepal - possessing their own language, dress, culture, etc. with ancestral occupations of boating and fishing. There are about 18,000 majhi people in Nepal.

Most of the Majhi people are below the poverty line. The economic status of the Majhi is very poor. They even have not sufficient land for agriculture that is why they are living impoverished kind of life. They are very vulnerable to impacts of climate change.

A Majhi Village; Bodgaun

Bodgaun is a village located in Bhimtar Village Development Committee of Sindhupalchowk district in Nepal with Majhi population of 2,000 in 350 families. The majority of the people of Bodgaun depend upon animal husbandry and agriculture for survival over the threatened ancestral occupation of fishing and boating. The land is not very fertile and the yield is also very low as people cultivate crops in a traditional way, despite the development of new technologies. Majorities of the people are illiterate and among those who are, many had just received primary or secondary level of education. There is very poor condition of hygiene and sanitation.

Impacts in Majhi Village; Bodgaun

The major impacts can be summarized as

Induced by Climate change		Impacts on
		Primarily	Secondarily	Extended
Extreme Events	Extreme Drought	Agriculture	Decreased production of rice and other food	-          Food insecurity -          Pressure on family economy -          Social impacts
	Extreme Rainfall	Landslide in agricultural land	Decrease area of cultivation
		River cutting
		Road damage	Blocked accessibility	-          Loose selling of local products -          High price of food
Prolonged summer		Prolonged favorable condition for Mosquito and other insects	Health Impacts	-          Right of well being -          Pressure on economy

There are several communities in Nepal, which are facing similar or severe challenges due to climate change impacts. Being mountainous, fragile, landlocked and underdeveloped, Nepal seems to be most vulnerable to these impacts and poor and marginalized people in the country are facing many difficulties. 

There are some initiatives taken by government and international agencies on adaptation but the initiatives are often seem to be not effective and making real change in the livelihood of people. A collaborative, strong and long term efforts is crucial to protect people, communities and environment.