J Wet Eco 2012 (6): 44-51 Paudel and Kafle, 2012 44 Journal of Wetlands Ecology Wetland Friends of Nepal (WFN) http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/jowe ISSN: 2091-03632 Research Article Assessment and prioritization of community soil and water conservation measures for adaptation to climatic stresses in Makawanpur district of Nepal Prashant PAUDEL 1* and Gandhiv KAFLE 1 1 Tribhuvan University, Institute of Forestry, Hetauda, Nepal Published in November 2012 Abstract Climate change is the global concern of our sustainable development whose impact is of great concern to humanity. In Nepal, we are already starting to become aware of recent changes and developing the mechanism to adapt. A study was carried out in Bramha Thakur Community Forest User Group of Makawanpur district with an objective of assessing and prioritizing adaptation options by local community using soil and water conservation measures on climate change. Primary data were collected from direct observation, focus group discussion, key informant interview, preference ranking and transect walk. Meteorological data on temperature and rainfall of 30 years was collected from government sources and climatic trend was analyzed. Prioritization of adaptation options was done using Index of Usefulness of Practices to Adaptation (IUPA) tool developed by Debels et al. (2010). Monthly maximum value of daily maximum temperature and minimum temperature has increased by 0.0461 0 C and 0.12 0 C respectively. Numbers of warm days are increasing. Annual precipitation has increased steadily whereas maximum five days and monthly precipitation trend is increasing at high rate, alarming to hazards induced by climate change. Local people were found very resourceful in using various adaptation practices to deal with impacts of climate change. IUPA scoring provided important rankings on the adaptation options. Conservation pond was highly prioritized for drought management. To adapt with flood, engineering structures with or without vegetation were highly used as adaptation option. Bamboo plantation was highly preferred by local community to reduce the impacts of landslide and to prevent its occurrence. Bioengineering structures are highly recommended for long term stability in flooded and landslide affected areas. Further studies on adaptation options and their prioritization in more areas are recommended for comprehensive database and generalization. Key words: Climate change, Adaptation, Prioritization, Drought, Flood, Landslides * Corresponding Author: Gandhiv Kafle, e-mail: gkafle@scientist.com INTRODUCTION The scientific community by now agrees that climate change is real, it will become worse, and the already poor and vulnerable will be affected the most (IPCC, 2007). There is also evidence of more intense precipitation events and an increase in the number of flood days in some rivers while other rivers show reduction in flows in the dry season, with implications for both water supply and energy generation (Shakya, 2003). In Nepal, observed data indicate consistent warming and rise in the maximum temperatures at an annual rate of 0.04- 0.06 degree Celsius. Studies also indicate that the observed warming trend is not uniform across the country. Annual precipitation data show a general decline in pre-monsoon precipitation in far-and mid-western Nepal, with a few pockets of declining rainfall in the western, central and eastern regions. In contrast, there is a general trend of increasing pre-monsoon precipitation in the rest of the country (MoE, 2010). Significant and consistent increases in temperatures and annual precipitation rates are predicted for Nepal in the years 2030, 2050 and 2100 across various climate models (Agrawala et al., 2003). About 80% of the precipitation in Nepal falls within four months of the year; and much of this falls during a few extremely intense rainfall events. The result is too much water during a very short time period, making it very difficult for both humans and plants to benefit from it. Most of it flows quickly through the watersheds and basins of the high mountains and