Pilot on climate services in agriculture and tourism in Chitwan, Nepal

Background

ICIMOD’s Climate Services Initiative has selected Chitwan District in Nepal for a pilot on climate services at the local level for the tourism and agriculture sectors. Funded through UKAid, the pilot will be implemented over two years ending in March 2022. The pilot aims to improve livelihoods and enhance the resilience of people in the agriculture and tourism sectors by reducing risks and vulnerabilities through climate information services. The targeted outcome is the improved capacity of local institutions in Chitwan to integrate climate information services in their decision making and establishing a user-driven climate service information system and user interface platform.

ICIMOD carried out stakeholder consultations on climate services for the agriculture and tourism sectors to understand the context better and map out potential stakeholders during a scoping visit on 5–8 January 2020. ICIMOD identified the Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC) in Chitwan as a partner at the local level and has signed a letter of intent for the piloting of climate services in agriculture and tourism in Chitwan. The AKC will link the agro-met advisories to farmers through extension workers. Though the COVID-19 pandemic led to delays in field work and face-to-face meetings with stakeholders, ICIMOD held online discussions with the AKC on the development of a digital platform for local agro-met advisories. ICIMOD also held bilateral meetings with the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) and its Biodiversity Conservation Center (BCC) in Chitwan to collaborate on piloting climate services for the tourism sector.

A theory of change (ToC) for the pilot has been drafted and will be further developed with inputs from local stakeholders. An inception workshop is planned on 12–13 January 2021 to finalize the ToC and the monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) plan for the pilot.

Objectives

• Bring partners on board for a collective understanding of the ToC and to agree upon the MEL plan for the project
• Develop project activities in line with the ToC together with partners

Expected outputs

• A collective understanding of the ToC for localized climate services in Chitwan developed
• A finalized MEL plan for the pilot