IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON NATURAL RESOURCES IN NEPAL Alaka Lamsal Kathmandu University alakalamsal01@gmail.com Summary The impacts of climate change are adverse on natural resources of Nepal. It disturbs the fine equilibrium of mountain ecosystems that governs how the vast reserves of snow, ice and water in the high mountains provide water to rivers downstream. Agriculture is adversely affected due to variations in temperature, precipitation and invasive species which is likely to challenge food security in the country. This is especially critical in Nepal because 66 percentage of the population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihoods. This review paper aims to create a synthesis of literature on climate change impacts on natural resources in Nepal and provide more comprehensive understanding of how the impacts of CC will be realized at different scales, from household livelihoods to national food security. Keywords: Climate change, Natural resources, Food Security, Nepal The context Climate change is a globally observed change in climatic patterns adue to variations in temperature and precipitation. It is widely accepted although skeptics believe in null hypothesis of climate change. Scientific investigations on temperature and precipitation records from many monitoring stations from all over the world have fixed that temperature is rising and sea level is increasing year after year. Climate change discussion formally entered in Nepal in 1992 when Nepal became a party of UNFCC at Rio-Convention in 1992. However, some scientists already had the opinion of adverse effects of climate change in the Himalaya before 1992. For example, Nakajima talked about the climate change in South Asia in 1976. In the late 1980s, when human induced climate change was getting academic recognition globally, Nepal and Himalayan region also got some attention, as shown here by Shah (1985–1986) and Gleick (1989), who, however, focused mainly on security and conflict aspects of GHGs effect and climate change. These were the initial academic concerns of climate change in the region. Country background: Nepal is a mountainous country and its verticality (60m to 8868km) has generated tremendous habitat and species diversity over short horizontal distance. The climatic conditions varies from tropical to arctic from south to north and much of Nepal falls within monsoon region. It contains 8 of the 10 highest mountain peaks in the world, including Mount Everest (at 8848 m), although some of its low lying areas are only about 80 m meters above sea level. Nepal has a population of 2.5 million and the livelihood and economy is primarily based on natural resources with agricultural sector contributing to about 35 percent to GDP. The population is mainly rural, with only 12% living in urban areas (World Bank, 2013) and 25.5%