REAP country case studies: Nepal

This document outlines the risks faced by Nepal and the relevant policies, initiatives, and institutions for managing risk and supporting anticipatory action (AA), social protection, and disaster risk financing. Nepal is highly susceptible to earthquakes, flooding, landslides, droughts and glacier lake outburst floods due to its diverse topography and complex geography. Nepal is vulnerable to climate change, as more than two thirds of the country’s economy depend on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and forestry. The country also experiences high social vulnerability, with high levels of poverty and social inequality based on ethnic and caste-based discrimination.

The analysis finds that one of the biggest challenges, as highlighted by both key informants and the literature review, is that the roles and responsibilities of local governments, relating to interventions such as AA and social protection, are in flux during the country's recent transition into a federal state. Although communities and local authorities appear to have welcomed the opportunity to have greater decision-making afforded by decentralisation, many feel overwhelmed by complex portfolios. In terms of shock-responsive social protection, interviews seem to indicate limited government appetite for it at this stage. From a political economy perspective, one of the biggest challenges in Nepal is the need for a fundamental shift in how emergency flood response is perceived. Disaster response, and development planning in general, is heavily politicised and local authorities project their agendas onto the response.