Panchthar/Kathmandu - As global leaders wrapped up the UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, the impacts of climate change continue to intensify across Nepal’s rural and agricultural heartlands—threatening traditional livelihoods, food systems, and community resilience.
In eastern Nepal’s Panchthar district, the indigenous Majhi community-long dependent on fishing, small-scale farming, and boat services-faces an escalating climate emergency. Unpredictable rainfall, prolonged droughts, frequent flash floods, and landslides are reshaping their lives and pushing them away from centuries-old occupations.
Traditional Livelihoods Under Severe Threat
Majhitar, a settlement of 36 Majhi households along the Hewakhola and Tamor rivers, is experiencing drastic changes in its natural systems. Once fertile farmlands that produced paddy, maize, wheat, and potatoes no longer yield reliably. Pests and plant diseases have become widespread, while irrigation canals destroyed by repeated floods remain unrepaired.
Local resident Meena Majhi recounts how food production has collapsed, forcing families to struggle even for daily meals. “Drought troubles us when we need to plant, and then sudden floods wash away whatever we have grown,” she says. “The river cuts deeper every year. Sometimes it feels the whole village might be swept away.”
The Majhi men once depended on rowing boats to help people cross the river, but the construction of a bridge ended that income source. Fishing-the community’s core identity-has also declined sharply.
According to Ram Majhi, Chairperson of the Majhi Upliftment Association in Panchthar, fish stocks in the Tamor and Hewakhola rivers have fallen dramatically over the past 15 years. “Earlier, we could catch four to five kilograms of fish within an hour. Now, even a full day of effort yields barely a kilogram,” he explains. Riverbed changes caused by landslides, debris flow, and erratic floods have destroyed aquatic habitats, accelerating the decline.
Livestock diseases have also become more frequent, adding pressure to already fragile livelihoods.
A National Pattern of Vulnerability
Experts warn that the Majhi settlement is only a snapshot of the broader crisis unfolding across Nepal. With most rural households relying on climate-sensitive agriculture, communities nationwide are grappling with crop failures, water scarcity, soil erosion, and biodiversity loss.
As impacts penetrate even kitchen-level food security, climate migration and displacement risks are rising.
Nepal’s Voice at COP30
Nepal participated in COP30 with a high-level delegation led by Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Dr. Madan Prasad Pariyar. The government emphasized that developed countries must fulfill their climate finance commitments and support vulnerable nations like Nepal in adaptation, resilience-building, and loss-and-damage recovery.
Minister Pariyar said Nepal’s participation was “effective,” with the country highlighting the urgency of safeguarding mountain ecosystems, agricultural livelihoods, and river-based communities. Nepal reiterated that meeting the 1.5°C global warming goal requires a global shift toward a green economy and scaled-up financing for adaptation.
“Nepal’s villages and traditional livelihood systems are already experiencing multiple and compounding climate impacts,” the minister noted. “Moving forward, we need stronger coordination across all three tiers of government and sustained international support.”
A Call for Accelerated Action
As the climate crisis accelerates, communities like Majhitar face increasingly difficult choices—including the possibility of relocation. Without timely support, their cultural identities, food security, and economic stability may be at risk.
The story of Panchthar’s Majhi community serves as a stark reminder: for Nepal’s most vulnerable groups, climate change is not a distant threat-it is a daily struggle already reshaping lives, livelihoods, and landscapes.
