NEPAL
The Modeling for Biodiversity and Climate Change in Nepal project assesses biodiversity in several categories linked to agricultural resilience and sustainable pest control across an altitude transect in the Chitwan-Annapurna landscape of central Nepal.

Country Profile
This fact sheet presents an overview of the work we’re doing in Nepal and country information.
Description
This project assesses biodiversity in several categories linked to agricultural resilience and sustainable pest management. Using research done by students at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu and Agricultural and Forestry University in Chitwan, this project looks at the effect of climate change on the biodiversity of crops, pests, pollinators, decomposers, and alien invasive species across an altitudinal transect in the Chitwan-Annapurna landscape of central Nepal. Climate change is an important factor in agricultural yields through its effects on the distribution of pests and invasive species.
Over 60% of Nepal’s population relies on agriculture as an economic mainstay. Insects, slugs, rodents, and other pests are responsible for consuming 20-35% of crops. Widely marketed synthetic pesticides are commonly used to kill pests, but with few farmers trained in proper pest application, this indiscriminate pesticide use can cause illness and sometimes even death. Pesticide use also causes negative ecological impacts: pests become resistant to the applied chemicals while valuable species, such as insect predators, pollinators, and endangered macrofauna, are killed.
As a project based on student research, it supports Ph.D. and M.S. students in science and technology fields and builds technical capacity for applied biodiversity research in Nepal through the Scholar Training Program, which includes collaborative student mentoring, technical workshops, and conferences.
This project aims to reduce poverty and hunger and bring science-based solutions and sustainable enterprise solutions to Nepal. It
also makes women and nutrition central to funded research, actively seeks to engage women in the participatory learning process, and works deeply within rural communities through local partners.
Achievements and Highlights
- Mapping of seven invasive species throughout Nepal, tracking increases and decreases of spread, as well as impact on the habitats of critical food crops and biodiversity.
Current Project Objectives
- Reduce poverty and hunger and bring science-based solutions to Nepal.
- Focus on smallholder farmers and herders to increase productivity, adapt to climate change, and manage invasive plants and pests.
- Build eco-clusters of village enterprises by engaging local businesses, local government, NGOs, and community cooperatives, and connecting with agribusiness support services and local agro-vet companies for job creation and employment.
- Capitalize on IPM IL experience in Nepal and with its institutions.
- Make women and nutrition central to funded research.
- Use data to create a culture of translational research and scalability.
- Work with the community and align ourselves with the efforts of our partners.
- Actively seek to engage women in the participatory learning process.
- Identify approximately 15 early-career researchers in collaboration with our university partners in Nepal who are interested in executing thesis research through innovative approaches, fresh perspectives, and community-based fieldwork, leading to about 5 Ph.D. and 10 M.S. dissertations in science and technology fields.

Pramod Kumar Jha: Principal Investigator
Ecology and Resource Management, Tribhuvan University
Nepal
Co-Principal Investigators/Collaborators

Mohan Siwakoti
Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University
Nepal

Bharat Babu Shrestha
Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University
Nepal

Anjana Devkota
Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University
Nepal

Sanjay Kumar Jha
Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University
Nepal

Madan Lall Shrestha
Academician, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Nepal

Abhijin Adiga
Biocomplexity Institute, University of Virginia
United States

Madhav Marathe
Biocomplexity Institute, University of Virginia
United States

Resham Bahadur Thapa
Agriculture and Forestry University
Nepal

Moha Dutta Sharma
Agriculture and Forestry University
Nepal