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This report describes a project funded by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) and implemented by Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD) to scale up climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in Nepal. The project focused on three agro-ecological zones—the Terai, mid-hills, and high hills—to identify and pilot technologies that increase productivity, build resilience to climate variability, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a specific emphasis on the needs of women and poor farmers.

This executive summary details a study requested by the Government of Nepal to estimate the economic costs of climate change across three key sectors: agriculture, hydroelectricity, and water-induced disasters. The study employs an iterative risk-management approach to assess current adaptation deficits and project future costs through the mid-century and beyond, emphasizing the high degree of uncertainty in climate projections.

This report assesses Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) options in Nepal to address climatic risks and food insecurity. It identifies a pool of 147 potential technologies, prioritizes them based on food security, adaptation, mitigation, and gender and social inclusion (GESI), and uses climate analogue tools to estimate the potential for scaling these interventions across different agro-ecological zones. The report emphasizes that CSA interventions must be location-specific and supported by enabling environments, such as improved credit access and public-private partnerships, to be effective.