Outlook on climate change adaptation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Summary of key hazards, vulnerabilities and risks

Key Vulnerability

Key Risk

Climate Hazards 7

• Dependency on agriculture or other industries vulnerable to flooding • Poor land management and spatial planning practices • Communities and infrastructure located in flood plains and other geographically exposed areas • Poor drainage infrastructure • Limited capacity of local and national public institutions to respond and adapt • Dams at risk of failure due to flooding • Limited access to insurance against climate-related losses • Limited capacity of local and national public institutions to respond to natural disasters and adapt to increased floods • People living on or below steep hillsides • Communities with weak infrastructure and housing • Degraded ecosystems, for example, due to land-use changes • Rural mountain communities, particularly the elderly and children, located in high altitudes with poor road access, housing and infrastructure • Limited access to insurance against climate-related losses • Dependency on livestock vulnerable to cold extremes

• Death and injury • Displacement of people • Destruction of infrastructure, including hydropower facilities • Erosion of agricultural land and crop failures • Loss of land productivity due to sludge • Destruction of cultural heritage • Disturbance of trade routes • Increased risk of landslides and landslide dam outburst floods • Shallow water table pollution • Increase in waterborne diseases (kala-azar, cholera, diarrhoea etc.) • Damages to forest, riparian, aquatic and other ecosystems

Floods and flash floods

• Changing course of river basins • Contamination of water sources • Eroded and degraded hillsides and watersheds • Damage to aquatic ecosystems • Death and injury • Displacement of people • Destruction of infrastructure and housing

Landslides

• Inaccessibility of essential services (e.g. emergency health care) and reduced communication due to heavy snow precipitation and cold extremes • Increased cold-related mortality and morbidity, especially among vulnerable sectors of the population • Economic and livelihood losses due to loss of livestock • Changes in ecological characteristics caused by climate change may affect the significance of sites of cultural and religious tourism • Loss of agricultural crops

Heavy snow and cold extremes

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