Adaptation to climate change in the hydroelectricity sector in Nepal

The document outlines a bottom-up decision-scaling approach to adaptation for Nepal's hydropower sector, categorizing necessary actions into immediate resilience building for existing plants, climate-smart planning for new investments, and long-term monitoring and research. It highlights that while future climate impacts are uncertain due to data gaps, the sector faces significant risks from climate-induced hazards like sediment load and glacial lake outburst floods, necessitating context-specific, low-regret adaptation pathways.

• Adaptation in Nepal's hydroelectricity sector is categorized into three types: immediate actions for current risks and resilience of existing plants, 'climate smart planning' for new plants built over the next decade using flexible or robust designs, and early monitoring and research to inform future decisions.
• Predicting future climate impacts on the sector is difficult due to Nepal's complex hydrology and elevation changes, as well as high uncertainty across climate models and a lack of reliable long-term hydro-meteorological data.
• The most significant climate-related threats to hydropower are increased hazards, specifically geo-hazards such as glacial lake outburst floods, extreme floods, and sediment load.
• Effective adaptation requires a suite of context-specific, low-regret options rather than a universal approach, and must be integrated into the institutional context and sector development policies.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2017). Adaptation to climate change in the hydroelectricity sector in Nepal. https://cdkn.org/resource/policy-brief-adaptation-climate-change-hydroelectricity-sector-nepal

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Adaptation to climate change in the hydroelectricity sector in Nepal. 2017. https://cdkn.org/resource/policy-brief-adaptation-climate-change-hydroelectricity-sector-nepal.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Adaptation to climate change in the hydroelectricity sector in Nepal |date=14 June 2017 |url=https://cdkn.org/resource/policy-brief-adaptation-climate-change-hydroelectricity-sector-nepal |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2017adaptation, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Adaptation to climate change in the hydroelectricity sector in Nepal}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://cdkn.org/resource/policy-brief-adaptation-climate-change-hydroelectricity-sector-nepal}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }