Transboundary Flood Resilience Project   

Context:

Flood is a common cause of flood in the rainy season in Nepal, and has been most frequent, highly damaging and wide spread natural hazards. It is estimated that more than 6,000 rivers and rivulets are in Nepal flowing from north to south. Among these, snow fed rivers, such as the Koshi, Narayani, Karnali, and Mahakali, are perennial rivers. They originate from the Himalayas and snow-capped mountains and pass through the hills to the Terai plains. During the monsoon (June-September), these rivers swell and cause damage to the villages, crops lands, and people and livestock remained within the river basins. Historical data has shown that Nepal witnessed major flood in Tinao basin (1978), Koshi River (1980), Tadi River Basin (1985), Sunkoshi Basin (1987) and devastating cloud burst in Kulekhani area (1993) which alone claimed the lives of 1336 people.

Communities in the Koshi, Gandak/Narayani and Karnali river basins along the Nepal-India border are closely linked not only by cultural and socio-economic ties, but by shared vulnerability to meteorological stressors. According to projections from the World Resources Institute Aqueduct Global Flood Analyzer, floods are expected to affect 156,600 people in Nepal every year. Exacerbated by climate change and significant glacier melting in the Himalayas, annual flooding events, which typically occur during monsoon season and originate in the mountains of Nepal, wreak havoc on low-land communities in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, killing people, livestock and crops. Furthermore, existing government warning systems were too slow, leaving most people without enough time to prepare for impending flood water, and government coordinated responses to flood-affected communities on both countries were insufficient to meet the multitude of recovery needs. Annual flooding is one of the primary stressors eroding the ability of transboundary communities in this region to achieve development outcomes, including a better quality of life.

The DRR&M Act, 2075, National DRR Policy and Strategic Action Plan clearly identified the area of disaster risk reduction at all level through proper understanding, governance, investment and preparedness for response and build back better are the key area of resilience of the nation. The global, regional and national as well as local forums have agreed that DRR is also a function of economic development and reinvestment for resilient development. As thousands of people are affected due to disasters in Nepal every year, this is connoted to illiteracy, lack of awareness and poor understanding of disasters, superstitions, human behaviour, and poverty as well as poor legislative framework/plan and policy at local level in current situation. Legislative framework at provincial and local level in line with DRR&M Act, 2075, National DRR Policy and Strategic Action Plan shall support in achieving the SFDRR priorities and SDG Goals.

In this context, in the lead of LWF Nepal, Eco-Nepal, MADE Nepal and Kathmandu University have been working together for creating resilient communities. The project is being implemented in Khairahani Municipality in ward no 10 and 13. Similarly, it also has been working in Ward No: 28 Bharatpur Municipality.