Introduction

• Climate change is a phenomenon due to emissions of greenhouse gases from fuel combustion deforestation, urbanization and industrialization resulting variations in solar energy, temperature and precipitation (Uprety 1999).
• It is a real threat to the lives in the world that largely affects water resources, agriculture, coastal regions, freshwater habitats, vegetation and forest, snow cover and melting and geological processes such as landslide, desertification and floods and has long term effects on food security as well as in human health.
• In Nepal average temperature increase was recorded as 0.060 C per year and that in Terai and Himalaya was 0.040 and 0.080 C per year respectively (Shrestha et al., 1999).
• It may be due to solar radiation absorbed by glacial lakes as well as radiation absorbed by land because of snow melting in the Himalayan region (Malla, 2008).
• Likewise, Rainfall was recorded minimum in the year 1972, 1977, 1992 and 2005 and maximum in the year 1975, 1985 and 1998.
• Erratic rainfall events (i.e. higher intensity of rains but less number of rainy days and unusual rain) with no decrease in total amount of annual precipitation have been experienced.
• Such events increase possibility of climate extremes like irregular monsoon pattern, drought and floods. For eg. there were rain deficit in eastern terai and western terai regions, normal rain in far western region and heavy rain in the mid-western region creating flood, landslide and inundation.