Outlook on climate change adaptation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Socioeconomic indicators

GDP , 2017 Value added, percentage by sector

Per capita, thousands of USD

Agriculture, forestry, and shing

Industry (including construction)

Other

Services

Afghanistan* *Data for GDP by sector: 2016

21

22

53

536

Bangladesh

13

28

54

1 517

Bhutan

15

39

39

3 110

China

8

41

52

8 827

India

16

26

49

1 940

Myanmar

26

32

42

1 299

Nepal

27

14

51

835

Pakistan

23

18

53

1 548

0

20

40

60

80

100

%

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Sources:WorldBank,DataBank, (data.worldbank.org,accessedNovember2018).

GRID-A RENDAL / L ÓPEZ , 2018

the main source of food and livelihood income (Rasul and Hussain, 2015). Typically, households have a small plot of land between 0.23 hectares and 0.83 hectares, where they grow a small variety of staple crops (Kurvits et al., 2014). Landholdings in mountainous areas are generally smaller than in the plains and more fragmented, making cultivation more time-consuming and labour intensive (Hunzai et al., 2011). Issues such as population growth and land degradation have caused average landholdings to decrease in some areas, including Nepal (Deshar, 2013), where the average size of landholdings reduced by almost 19 per cent from

2001 to 2011 (CBS, 2014). There are also differences between the average size of landholdings belonging to female-headed and male-headed households, with females tending to have smaller plots (CBS, 2014). Tough conditions across the HKH means that the agricultural productivity of mountain communities is generally low (Kurvits et al., 2014). While substantial gains have been made in reducing undernourishment, with the number of people undernourished in the eight HKH countries decreasing from 598 million (1990–1992) to 414

million (2014–2016), the region is still the most food insecure in the world in absolute numbers. Just over half (52 per cent) of the world’s undernourished live in the eight HKH countries. Mountain communities are especially vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity due to harsh climates, rough and slope terrains, poor soils, short growing seasons and low temperatures. According to a study carried out by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2015, the proportion of food insecure people in developing countries worldwide was approximately 13 per cent, while for mountain populations it was

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