**5. Mitigation of environmental risks and climate change adaptation**

#### **5.1 Policy and legal instruments**

Since 1980, Nepal has integrated environmental management related policies and strategies to address major consequences of developmental projects enunciating environment conservation related policies in the seventh plan [73]. In order to enforce policy and legal instruments for environmental protection from the project formulation stages for development strategy has considered avoiding or minimizing adverse effects on the ecological system. For this, EIA as a tool has adopted emphasizing

emerging environmental and ecological issues envisioned from developmental projects such as industry, tourism, water resources, transportation, agriculture, forest and other developmental projects. To institutionalize EIA system in Nepal, eighth plan period [74] has remarkable contribution adopting and implementation of National EIA Guidelines of 1993 [75] and enforcement of Environment Protection Act, 1997 and the Environment Protection Rules, 1997 [76]. Nepal has enacted a number of regulatory measures for the consideration of the environmental aspects in the development project and programme, however still inadequate mainstreaming of biodiversity into national development plan and programmes. Generally, EIA implementation in developing countries appears to work best if legal and institutional arrangements have evolved gradually through an "organic" process, rather than one "imposed" from the outside [77]. The main Plan, Policy, Act, and Regulations related to sectoral projects, those addressed major environmental issues are outlined below:


Considering previous Environment Protection Regulation (EPR), 1997 and its amendments, EPR endorsed EPR 2020 under the provisions of the EPA 2020. The EPR adopts the environmental assessment criteria mentioned in the National Impact Assessment Guideline 1993. However, the EPR establishes the administrative framework for assessing, exhibition and determination of EIA/IEE, in terms of issues needing to be addressed and the format/layout of the EIA/IEE document. Schedule 1, 2 and 3 listed proposal to be conducted

Brief Environmental Study, Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies of sectoral projects respectively. The criteria for screening sectoral projects to conduct environmental studies before commencement of the projects has included Forest Sector, Industrial, Mine and Minerals, Road, Residential, Buildings, settlement development and Urban development areas, Water Resource and industry, Tourism, Drinking Water, Solid Waste Management, Agriculture, Health and Education Sectors. Besides these provisions, Section 4 Climate Change, Rule 25 has defined preparation of National Report by the Ministry regarding climate change situation, impacts and risks in every 5 years period. Rule 26 of same section provisioned Ministry should prepare National Adaptation Plan for each 10 years period and Rule 27 provisioned implementation of Mitigation Plan. The detailed framework of EPR 2020 shown in the **Figure 3**.

#### **Figure 3.**

*Legislative framework for environmental assessment process, EPR 2020.*


### **5.2 Mitigation strategy and adaptation**

Climate change and risks associated towards adverse impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, water resources, food production and infrastructure with global warming correlates to adapt reducing or avoiding adverse impacts and maximize positive consequences towards the risks. The adaptation process is complex towards risks posed by climate change and variability as Moser & Ekstrom 2010, stated adaptation process is constant of awareness and understanding, planning, implementation, and monitoring and review [71]. The main services provided by the forests is carbon removal from the atmosphere (carbon sequestration) and the long-term storage of this carbon in biomass, dead organic matter, and soil carbon pools. An estimated 55% (471 Pg C) stored in tropical forests out of the global forest carbon stocks of which more than half is stored in biomass [78]. To mitigate or avoid the projected impacts of climate change adaptation, urgently needed towards extreme changes and impacts that may occur [72].

According to Article of UNFCCC, evaluation of risk associate with climate change refers "dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" [79]. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has defined ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in 2009 as use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall strategy to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and EbA projects have proliferated in 2015. As the EBA uses a range of opportunities for the sustainable management, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems to provide services that enable people to adapt to the impacts of climate change, Nepal had adopted Ecosystem-Based Approach (EBA) for priority ecosystems of major ecological regions. To build resilience using an ecosystem management approach in vulnerable developing countries by increasing institutional capacity, mobilizing knowledge and transferring appropriate best-practice adaptation technologies (**Figure 4**).

The developmental activities are the main drivers of biodiversity loss, proper implementation of appropriate sustainable mitigation measure against adverse impacts can support to maintain ecosystems and biodiversity loss. Although,

**Figure 4.**

Climate change influences on biodiversity and ecosystem services but not all are negative, with some species either thriving or adapting. Although, environmental assessment a planning application for the development activities generally propose mitigation measures as obligations within the legal framework for implementation. However, the assess¬ment strategy to address the likely environmental impacts and mitigation of the planned sectoral projects is limited including an effective implementation of EMP. The major mitigation measures for developmental projects are presented in the **Table 2**.






**Table 2.**

*Mitigation measures for some of the environmental impacts.*
