The radiant Phewa Lake (pictured here) is the jewel of the city of Pokhara, a vital natural resource that supports the livelihoods of thousands of people living on its periphery and an attraction for the thousands of tourists who visit this lake-city. In recent years, however, Phewa Lake has been shrinking rapidly — by more than half over the past 50 years — as a result of increasing sedimentation caused by unsustainable land use practices, haphazard construction (mostly of roads) and deforestation in the lake’s upstream catchment area.
Studies show that the lake’s shrinkage has resulted in a sharp decline in the lake’s ecosystem and biological diversity. But the primary reason for the damage to the lake’s flora and fauna has resulted from increased water pollution from the uncontrolled flow of contaminated water into the lake from the hills and surrounding urban areas.
Increased migration from rural to urban areas has left a large area of agricultural terrace lands in the Phewa catchment abandoned and unmanaged. Villages are already suffering from an acute workforce shortage, as an increasing number of youth continue to leave the country as labour for the Gulf and East Asian countries. However, the most worrying environmental phenomenon here, coupled by erratic rainfall patterns possibly due to climate change, is that the unattended terraces are exposed to risks of top soil erosion and landslides. This has led to increased sedimentation in the lake during monsoon every year.
Increased construction of access roads and concrete houses along with the flattening of hillocks to support increased household populations (a 12 percent increase in the last decade alone) in the upstream watershed areas is further contributing to land erosion and sedimentation. All of these factors have put the Phewa Lake and the larger ecosystem at even greater risk.
Against such environmental odds, UNDP, in collaboration with the Government of Nepal, UNEP and IUCN, has been working with local communities in Panchase (including the Phewa catchment area) on an Ecosystem-based Adaption (EbA) programme to address challenges and mitigate the climate risks faced by the ecosystem and vulnerable communities.
This initiative of adaption, also simultaneously launched in Peru and Uganda, is grounded on the belief that healthy, well-functioning ecosystems enhance natural resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change and reduce the vulnerability of peoples.
Under this initiative, the Department of Forests, is working closely with district line agencies, the Panchase Protection Forest Councils and local forest user groups under four themes: ecosystem restoration, land rehabilitation, water conservation and livelihood diversification.
To help restore the ecosystem, the local communities are engaged on activities such as tree plantation, maintenance of grasslands, protection of water sources and on-farm soil conservation practices.
For land rehabilitation, local people are trained on ways to reclaim degraded and abandoned land through construction of gabin walls and the plantation of amriso shrubs along the slopes.
For water conservation, local communities are receiving supports to conserve and maintain traditional sources of water and gain improved access to drinking water. For livelihood diversification, local communities are trained and engaged in the plantation of multi-use tree species, like timur and amriso, which have both economic and ecological value.
In a more recent development, this adaption programme has proposed a more innovative approach, with the construction of an ecosystem-based siltation dam, under the supervision of the Western Regional Forest Directorate, in the upstream area to reduce the flow of sediment into the Phewa Lake. The construction of such a structure will not just reduce sediment deposition in the lake but will also provide opportunities for revenue generation for the District Development Committee (DDC). For one, the sediment deposited by the check dams could be sold at fair prices in nearby markets. Hence, the proposed ecosystem-based solution will not only provide more economic benefits for the local community, but also help them protect the ecosystem and adapt better to a changing climate.