Lecture Series

Rishikesh Pandey
on
Climate Change in the Himalaya
Implications, Adaptation Responses and Social-Ecological Vulnerability

The earth’s climate is changing rapidly. However, the rates of change and associated impacts vary spatially and so people have variable adaptation strategies and priorities. This lecture is particularly intended to share the findings of a study that examined human-environmental interactions in three village-clusters located in different ecological zones of the Kali Gandaki Basin, Nepal. The study adopted a holistic approach of interpreting human-environmental interrelationship. It will present an extensive analysis of climate change from both climate science and social perspectives, followed by an exploration of the impacts on social ecosystems. It will present the state of human/community efforts to adapt to the change and limitations and barriers experienced. The lecture will investigate the outcomes of human-environmental interaction in relation to food and livelihood security as well as socio-ecological vulnerable using multidimensional index at household level. It will conclude with the theoretical implications of the study followed by policy prescriptions for climate change adaptation in the Himalaya.

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To listen or download lecture in audio format

Rishikesh Pandey is Assistant Professor of Development Studies and Human Geography at Pokhara University. He received his PhD in Geography and Environment from the University of Adelaide and was an awardee of the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS). His fields of interest are integrated between social and environmental/earth sciences and he is eager to create interdisciplinary dialogues in research. Besides his supervisory and teaching commitments, he is also a team member of the Interlinkage Working Group of the IAEG-SDGs that monitors progress made towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Dr Pandey has co-authored two books, Livelihood at Risk (2007), and Land Holding Pattern in the Mid-Western Nepal (2007), and has published around 20 research articles in peer-reviewed international journals.