We are focusing on local-level climate services for the tourism and agriculture sectors in Chitwan, Nepal. In early 2020, our site surveys and community focus group meetings comprised a scoping study that helped us to gain a comprehensive understanding of the user landscape at the local level and the needs of endusers. Stakeholder consultations helped us cement partnerships and secure collective ownership with local service agencies, stakeholders, and users. We have identified the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Chitwan as our local implementing partner and are now collaborating with them to prototype a digital platform for local agromet advisory services in the district. We have also identified the Biodiversity Conservation Center (BCC) under the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) to pilot localized climate services for tourism. The BCC will conduct a needs assessment for safari tourism in Chitwan.

In Chitral, Pakistan, we are working with communities and mandated national and provincial institutions to map the climate services landscape to support disaster risk reduction in three pilot areas that are highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters. We collaborated with the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) to conduct a baseline survey on understand the status of climate services – access, communication, and people’s confidence in climate information – among the most vulnerable communities in Chitral. This knowledge will help in designing a climate information system to communicate the risk of disasters and manage their impacts on vulnerable communities.

We plan to scale up this pilot’s good practices to other locations and contexts in Nepal, Pakistan, and the HKH, delivering reliable, relevant, and timely climate information for adaptation and action on the ground.