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Nepal

How the people of Nepal live with climate change and what communication can do

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How do people in Nepal live with climate change now?

How will its impacts shape their future and how will they, in turn, shape their environment? What are the most effective ways to support people to adapt to climate change and how best can the media, governments, organisations and businesses communicate with them?

These are the questions behind Climate Asia, the world’s largest study of people’s everyday experience of climate change. The project surveyed 33,500 people across seven Asian countries – Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam. This included 2,354 households and 20 opinion formers and experts in Nepal, and their experiences are at the heart of this report. We also held 12 focus group discussions and five community assessments across the country.

Using both quantitative and qualitative research, we have built a nationally representative picture of how different groups of people in Nepal live and deal with change. This includes their values, livelihoods, use of food, water and energy, family life, worries, what they watch and listen to, whom they trust the most, what they hope for in the future, and the environmental changes they have noticed or deal with already.

The research was conducted from May 2012 to March 2013 across all Nepal’s ecological and developmental regions. This included a nationally representative survey conducted during July and August 2012. Climate Asia recorded the opinions, insights and needs of the population, more than 70% of whom live on less than $2 (£1.30) a day.

More details on the research methodology and sampling followed can be found in the Appendix and at www.bbc.co.uk/climateasia