Assessment of water sector policies and guidelines of Nepal: Identifying gaps and addressing needs
The report presents a comprehensive review of the policies, strategies, plans, and legislations related to the water resources sector in Nepal carried and their gaps and needs. The study carried out under CARE for South Asia project reveales that water policies in Nepal, underpinning the concept of integrated water resources management (IWRM), are evolving and are attempting to conform to the recently adopted federal structure: the three tiers of governance in Nepal at the federal, provincial, and local levels.
Recommendations from the publication included:
- Nepal, in all of its governance systems, be proactive to the challenges imposed by climate change by adopting science-based decision-making systems in its policies;
- Nepal should build a legal system for the development of water resources and management delineating the power and responsibility of the federal center, province, and local level as directed by the constitution;
- Nepal should address seasonal fluctuations and spatial shortages in water availability by adopting suitable storage strategies, e.g., water harvesting, groundwater, basin storage or inter-basin transfers, etc.