Climate Change and Global Warming: A Case Study from Puwa Watershed, Ilam District, Eastern Nepal

Abstract

This study presents the climatic analysis and trends of Puwa watershed, located in eastern Nepal, within 26º51’- 27º5’ N and 87º50’- 87º56’ E with the total area of 158.9 sq. km. The trends in precipitation and temperature extremes were investigated and analyzed using, RClimDex (1.0) software. The results showed an increasing trend in the monthly maximum value of daily maximum temperature by 0.009 0C and the monthly maximum value of the daily minimum temperature by 0.032 0C per year, respectively. Days and nights were becoming warmer with a negative trend of occurring cool days and cool nights. The precipitation events showed an increasing trend in total and heavy precipitation events, very wet days and very heavy precipitation days indicating a probability to have more intense precipitation in the future. These climatic conditions due to climate change, unmanaged agriculture practices, steep slope, and the extreme precipitation event in the study area might be the triggering factors for natural hazards like landslides which have a direct negative effect to the people and infrastructure development of the area.