Nepal poor hard-hit by climate changes

Tending rice saplings

Oxfam has just released a report today looking at how climate changes in Nepal are having a big impact on millions of rural poor.

In the report, "Even the Himalayas Have Stopped Smiling: Climate Change, Poverty and Adaptation in Nepal", farmers said changing weather patterns had dramatically affected crop production, leaving them unable to properly feed themselves and getting into debt. Nepal is already one of the poorest countries in the world (31% of its 28 million population living below the poverty line). And more than 3 million are estimated to require food assistance because of a combination of natural disasters including last year's winter drought - one of the worst in Nepal's history.


Hear some of the voices of the villagers

I helped organise a media trip to the mid west - to Surkhet district. People told us that crop production was way down on previous years. Plus, they were having big problems with water shortages - which had helped to spread an outbreak of diarrhoea (more than 300 killed in the epidemic).


Spindly maize - not enough water

Among recent changes in weather patterns in Nepal are an increase in temperature extremes, more intense rainfall and increased unpredictability in weather patterns, including drier winters and delays in the summer monsoons. The melting of the Himalayan glaciers will also be felt well beyond Nepal's borders. Scientists warn that if the Himalayan glaciers disappear – with some predicting this could happen within 30 years – the impact would be felt by more than one billion people across Asia.



Some of the heaviest burdens have fallen on women who are on the frontline of climate change. They have to travel further distances to fetch water and take on the responsibility for feeding the family as men in many poor households migrate seasonally to seek work.


Men like Padam Bahadur Sunar travel to India for up to 8 months of the year to find casual work to feed the family

Poor and marginalised communities living here - in remote areas that often are several hours walk from the main roadheads - are the most vulnerable to weather shocks and the least able to protect themselves.






Oxfam says more work needs to be done in Nepal by the government and international organisations to create greater awareness about climate change and its likely impacts, to prioritise and institutionalise actions at national level; and help communities to play a greater role themselves in initiatives to reduce their vulnerability.


Nepal is extremely vulnerable to climate change; yet has one of the lowest emissions in the world – just 0.025% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Oxfam is calling on the world's richest countries, those most responsible for global emissions, to do more to help poor countries like Nepal better adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change when they meet to discuss a global climate treaty in Copenhagen in December – in 100 days from tomorrow

aerial view of the desert - Mali

Amazing views as I flew from Gao to Bamako, in Mali.


I was lucky enough to get a seat in the cockpit for part of the way.
Impressed by the pilots...



This was my 2nd time in Timbuctu...last time travelled by boat and went to the desert.









Views from the plane - journeying from Gao region, north-east Mali, via Timbuktu and Mopti to Bamako, the capital

Back from the desert in Mali

Just got back to the Malian capital, Bamako, after spending the last week in the north-eastern Sahelian region..think desert, dust and camels!



It was an exhausting but inspiring trip



Its an extremely poor region; a food deficit area where people are struggling. Yet they are warm and friendly to visitors .



More pix to come..too tired to post now

'Mazing Mali

I love this country.
And I must have one of the best jobs in the world that allows me the opportunity to travel to such great places





I last visited 13 years ago...and things have changed. Before, the place was pitch black at night save for a few cafe restaurants. Now, the city has electricity, there are lots of cars and motorbikes...



But the charm is still there.












I have been back less than 2 days and head up to the north-east to Gao region tomorrow. But in my disoriented haze on the first day, severely sleep deprived, i stumbled across this great wedding.

Sri Lanka tea farmers hostage to the weather

Sri Lanka is one of the world’s biggest tea exporters. But production in the first three months of the year fell by more than 41% - the largest drop in a decade. The main reason was a prolonged dry spell, affecting tea cultivation and the income of those working in the industry. Drought-like conditions – not just in Sri Lanka, but in other major tea producing countries – have created a global shortfall of tea; pushing up consumer prices. But workers in the industry are not feeling the benefits of the price hikes.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE SUNDERBANS, INDIA

Daily life is a constant struggle for tens of thousands of people still reeling from the devastating impact of Cyclone Aila which struck eastern India in late May leaving 138 dead and tens of thousands homeless in one of the worst disasters that West Bengal has faced in decades. The hardest hit areas were in the low-lying Sunderbans delta home to the worlds largest mangrove forest

Tea country - and attacked by leeches

I'm currently in Sri Lanka, looking at the impact climate change is having on the country's tea industry....more of that in another post to come.

But while doing my research, I can boast (?) of a new experience...being bitten by a leech. Eurgh.

apparently their saliva acts as an anti-coagulant; so blood doesnt stop coming out of where they have attacked you. A sobering experience.

I've just googled leeches...and come up with these factoids...

Like earthworms, leeches are hermaphrodites. Some, but not all leeches feed on blood.

A leech attaches itself when it bites, and it will stay attached until it has had its fill of blood. Due to an anticoagulant (hirudin) that leeches secrete, bites may bleed more than a normal wound after the leech is removed. The effect of the anticoagulant will wear off several hours after the leech is removed and the wound is cleaned.

Leeches normally carry parasites in their digestive tract which cannot survive in humans and do not pose a threat. However, bacteria, viruses, and parasites from previous blood sources can survive within a leech for months, and may be retransmitted to humans.

A common but medically inadvisable technique to remove a leech is to apply a flame, a lit cigarette, salt, soap, or a caustic chemical such as alcohol, vinegar, lemon juice, insect repellent, heat rub, or certain carbonated drinks. These cause the leech to regurgitate its stomach contents into the wound and quickly detach. The vomit may carry disease and increases the risk of infection.[3][4][5]

Simply pulling a leech off by grasping it can also cause regurgitation, and adds risks of further tearing the wound, and leaving parts of the leech's jaw in the wound, which can also increase the risk of infection.