WWF

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1. Research on Glaciers
2. Education
3. Awareness
4. Climate Change Witness
5. Adaptation
6. Biogas
7. Climate Change Network Nepal
8. National Climate Change Policy
9. Future Plan

1. Research on Glaciers

WWF Nepal is carrying out preliminary research on glacier melt and discharge patterns of Ngozumpa and Khumbu glaciers to monitor long term weather patterns and its impact on glaciers due to climate change.
 Automatic Weather Station (AWS) and Hydrological Station (HS) have been installed at both the glaciers. AWS records data such as solar radiation, relative humidity, air temperature, soil temperature, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, radiant heat and precipitation while HS records water discharge in the river.

The focus of the research is on:

• Melting of glaciers and the discharge patterns in the Ngozumpa and Khumbu glaciers to predict the tipping point (time for declined water source) for the Dudh Koshi sub-River Basin.
• Studying changes in weather patterns to access its impact on biodiversity

2. Education
To be able to address the issue, it is imperative to have a good understanding of climate change and threats related to the phenomenon. Students are an effective medium to spread awareness on climate change and are also future decision makers. Therefore, to produce individuals who are well-informed on climate change, WWF Nepal is working in partnership with Curriculum Development Centre (CDC), to incorporate climate change in formal education.

The Climate Change and Energy Program has launched the “Lecture Series” in schools on climate change. Similarly, “Teaching Climate Change in Classrooms: A toolkit for teachers” has been published in Nepali and English which are being used as reference material by the teachers.  

3. Awareness
WWF Nepal organized various awareness programs with the objective of providing relevant information and knowledge on climate change to stakeholders so as to enable them to initiate further action at their own level on education and awareness in the days to come.

Activities such as Climate Fair, Teachers’ Workshop, Lecture Series on climate change, publications, signature campaigns, letter-writing competition, eco-quiz competition and cycle rally are organized.

Climate Parade was organized in Kathmandu. More than 3,000 participants including school students, climate volunteers, city volunteers and civil society took part in the parade.

4. Climate Change Witness
Melting glaciers, violent weather, rising sea-levels and severe droughts are ominous signs of climate change witnessed around the world. In Nepal, the most visible impacts are glacier retreat, formation of glacial lake and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). In 2004, WWF Nepal launched the Climate Witness Project to disseminate the impact to the international communities and to put a face on local lives that are impacted by climate change.
 
Our Climate Witnesses are from the high mountains who have either suffered from GLOFs in their area or have witnessed major changes in the landscape due to climate change during their own lifetime.

5. Adaptation
Adaptation program aims to build resilience of the communities and ecosystem to withstand the adverse effects of climate change. The program focuses on impact of climate change on glaciers, fresh water, biodiversity, wildlife habitat and the livelihood of communities.

WWF Nepal is undertaking a project on “Climate Change impacts on Freshwater Ecosystems in the Himalayas (CCIFEH)” to enhance the understanding of impacts of climate change in the Himalayas and initiate adaptation measures.  

6. Biogas
Biogas refers to a gas produced by the anaerobic digestion or fermentation of organic matter including manure under anaerobic conditions. Biogas is comprised primarily of methane and carbon dioxide. A biogas plant is a devise to capture the methane content on the human and animal excrete.  
It is estimated that one average sized biogas plant saves 2.0 tones of fuel wood per year. Installation of biogas plant is an effective step towards reducing fuel wood consumption, thereby reducing pressure in the forest. Besides, biogas reduces consumption of kerosene and contributes in reducing Green House Gases (GHG) emission. In addition, biogas plants help to reduce the vulnerability of the women and children by reducing the probability of acute respiratory infections and also saving the time spent for the collection of the fuel wood by them and reduce the risk of human wild animal encounter. Moreover, the slurry from the plant is used as fertilizer.
With all these advantages, WWF Nepal aimed to install 7,500 biogas plants in Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) with Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) and Biogas Sector Partnership Nepal (BSP-Nepal) by 2010. WWF Nepal also aims to develop this into Gold Standard Biogas Verified Emission Reduction (VER) project. WWF Nepal also has vision of installation of 40,000 biogas plants by 2015.

7. Climate Change Network Nepal
CCNN is an informal network of organizations engaged in Climate Change issues in Nepal and was formed in 2003 to facilitate coordination and partnership among government, non-governmental sector and civil society. The objective of this coalition is to highlight the climate change issue at local, national and international level, thus enabling Nepal to cope with the present and future impacts of climate change. WWF Nepal is presently the member secretary of the network.

8. National Climate Change Policy
Climate change is becoming one of the major threats for the frazil mountain ecosystem for Nepal. Some initiatives have been taken forward to capture positive incentives from the global climate change debates. However all these are in scattered pattern. Government of Nepal, to get the feel of the holistic view on the whole issue, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MoEST) together with WWF Nepal have initiated for the formulation of National Climate Change Policy for Nepal.
To get the maximum input from various stakeholders, regional level consultations were carried out together with numbers of expertise mobilized for drafting the policy. The policy looks at the four different issues mainly: Vulnerability and Adaptation; Green House Gas Emission; Carbon sink & Mitigation and Policy and Legal Provision.

9. Future Plan

• Identify hotspots of climate change impact across landscapes and implement adaptation strategy on identified hotspots
• Implement climate change adaptation to build resilience of species and their habitat in WWF priority landscapes
• Identify the tipping point of Dudh Koshi River Basin from the impact of climate change
• Awareness raising program on climate change aimed at different target audiences at WWF priority landscapes
• Enhance understanding of the UNFCCC process and boost negotiation capacity of UNFCCC across the different national stakeholders
• Implement 40,000 biogas plants in the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) and develop it into Gold Standard Carbon Credit Project
• Implement the 140 kW micro hydro projects in Sacred Himalayan Landscape
• Implement alternative energy technologies (ICS, Hotpots, PV Solar) in WWF priority landscape area to reduce vulnerability of local communities and ecosystems
• Implement Forest Carbon Initiatives and Reduce Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) principle in Nepal.