Climate Migration

The World Bank have published a 256 page report on the projected impacts climate change will have on migration around the world.

Migration patterns in south Asia have been dominated by movements from rural to urban areas as families search for economic security. The World Bank are predicting a partial reversal of this over the coming decades.

As climate change takes hold, low lying and coastal areas will become too hot and in many cases too flooded to be livable. The projected impacts of this on migration vary. The report looks at three different scenarios, all three predict significant flows of people within and between countries in South Asia. 

Source: World Bank (2018) Groundswell - Preparing for Internal Climate Migration, Available online via: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/03/19/climate-change-could-force-over-140-million-to-migrate-within-countries-by-2050-world-bank-report 

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Climate change is not likely to be the main factor driving migration, economics will continue to play a major role. But, climate will become more important and more influential over time. How important depends on how quickly and how high temperatures rise. 

The Glacier Trust works with communities in remote mountainous regions of Nepal, we enable climate change adaptation through agriculture, water supply and education programmes. The Groundswell report predicts that upland regions will see in-migration as people look to inhabit slightly cooler climes. 

The southern Indian highlands, especially between Bangalore and Chennai will be climate in-migration hotspots. Parts of Nepal, as well as northwestern India, also see climate in-migration. (World Bank, 2018, p. 121). 

We have to remember of course that the highland regions are already facing a lot of challenges due to climate change and these are likely to intensify. Indeed, the trend at the moment in the Himalayas is still out-migration as farming is getting harder and more unpredictable. People go to cities in search of work and a stable income. Our projects are changing this, farmers are staying and in some cases returning as they recognise the opportunities that now exist thanks to the project work we are enabling.

If the mountain regions become a refuge for climate migrants, we need to do all we can to ensure they are livable with thriving agricultural economies. We are already demonstrating the possibilities and hope to continue to innovate to show the way. 

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Download the full Groundswell report. 

Coffee and Climate Change

Courage not hope

Climate scientists. People don’t listen to them much, but if you do this is what you’ll hear: the chances of avoiding dangerous climate change are now almost zero. 3°C or more of global warming looks inevitable, it is 95% certain.

We are in the midst of collective acceptance of this reality, the hope we’ve held for so long is ebbing away, the game is up, we failed to stop this thing. Sadness, regret, grief and anger are sweeping through the environment movement. This is an emotional moment; and a juncture.

We've covered this before, but two incredible short essays have been written this month; we'd love you to read them: 

1. We Need Courage, Not Hope, to Face Climate Change
   by Kate Marvel.
2. I Felt Despair About Climate Change—Until a Brush With Death Changed My Mind
   by Alison Spodek Keimowitz.

All over the world, as temperatures rise, people will suffer. How much they suffer is down to us, we can enable them to adapt so that the very worst impacts are avoided. Every donation you make fills a family in Nepal with hope, hope that they will be able to adapt.  

Enable climate change adaptation in Nepal by donating to The Glacier Trust today. 

Striking at the root

Eradicating poverty, whether it is through climate change adaptation projects or any other method, is not a straightforward task. We do what we can, but we are also aware that there are macro level economic and political forces that drive poverty. We feel weak in comparison, it is easy to feel resigned and resolving to just dealing with the consequences. Especially if your are as small as TGT; as one of our T-Shirts says 'If you can't beat them, adapt'.

But we mustn't remain blissfully (or willfully) ignorant of the bigger picture or leave claims of progress unquestioned. 

Dr. Jason Hickel from London School of Economics explores this and more in his recent book 'The Divide'. The most urgent question he raises is whether charity is working or whether, in fact, we have a 'development delusion'? The delusion being that poverty is falling and that we are on course for the UN Sustainable Development Goal of eradicating poverty by 2030.

According to Hickel, the benefits of charity and aid are hugely outweighed by the problems caused by sovereign debt and the linked system of ‘remote control’ power. These two structural factors are preventing countries from developing. Hickel implies that richer countries know this and are engaged in a deliberate ploy; they prevent true development, to stave off competition. He makes a very persuasive case.

The NGO sector, too, is implicated in spreading the 'development delusion'. Charities like Oxfam are, by coercion, compelled to continue telling the story that 'development' is working. They do so to protect their very existence, they are tied into funding streams that demand continued allegiance to the status quo of the global economic order. But by spreading the delusion, they mask over the reality of sovereign debt, structural adjustment, imperialist hangovers and the workings of the World Bank, IMF and World Trade Organisation. The combined impact of these is a world of rising inequality, both between countries and within them.

Aware of all this, what is an NGO to do? Charities, large and small, should stop doing what they are doing. We are able to lessen the impact of economic failings, environmental disasters and so on through our work. And until the system changes we must continue to enable change as best we can - if you can't beat them adapt. But we must do this with our eyes open and take care not accept the current economic order as a 'fait accompli'. We must not leave UN / World Bank / large NGO assertions that poverty is declining unchallenged. There are things we can do, sharing Hickel's book and articles is a start[1]. 

Chapter 8 of The Divide, opens with this quote from Henry David Thoreau, it is as cautionary as it is challenging:

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce misery which he strives in vain to relieve. 

So how do we 'hack at the branches' of poverty and climate change (those twin and related evils), while also 'striking at the root'? Indeed, can we do both? To be honest, we are unsure, we are exploring this. What follows is where we've got to so far, we'd love to hear your thoughts too.

Small charities, like ours, are only ever equipped to 'hack at the branches' - we enable remote mountain communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change. But, we can maybe 'strike at the root' a bit too.

Coffee - a crop we are supporting farmers to cultivate, harvest and sell - is sold by developing countries to developed countries in green bean form. A green bean is one which has not yet been roasted. But, it is during the roasting process that value is added to a raw material.

The process of converting a raw material into a final product is key to profit making in any manufacturing process. It is why, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, raw cotton was imported to the UK and then turned into fabric. The cost of converting cotton into fabric was far less than the price at which it was then sold. The same is true for coffee, a roasted coffee bean commands a far higher price than a green bean.

We are in the early stages of coffee production in Deusa and Waku, but we are already in conversation with Not1Bean a social enterprise that has a unique guarantee. Not one of the coffee beans that they sell has been roasted outside the country in which it was grown.  As a consequence, the financial value added to the coffee bean during roasting stays within the community that grew it. This arrangement also supports jobs at roasting facilities that wouldn't previously have existed. Not1Bean are currently only working with farmers in South America, but they hope - and we hope - they will be able to set farmers up with roasting equipment in Nepal soon.

This will 'strike at the root' of poverty as it strengthens the manufacturing sector in Nepal, driving up economic activity and income into the country. It is a model that can be replicated in other areas of agriculture and other economic sectors. Of course, unfavourable trading relationships will still be an inhibitor and Nepal still needs to cope with the impacts of decades of structural adjustment, but it is a programme of work that shines a light on an economic system that badly needs reform. 

The Glacier Trust, working with partners like Not1Bean and with our eyes wide open to the dangers of the 'development delusion' will continue to do what we can to strike at the root. But, we are also pragmatic; we must continue our climate change adaptation work with great energy and commitment. Maybe we should change our T-Shirt to 'Until we beat them, adapt'? 

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1. Hickel's writings are very accessible, as well as The Divide, we recommend the following articles:
Could you live on $1.90 a day? That's the international poverty line ;
It will take 100 years for the world’s poorest people to earn $1.25 a day ;
Time for degrowth: to save the planet, we must shrink the economy ; 

Interactive map

Duncan Clark from data visualization studio Flourish has created a brilliant interactive map to show how many times temperature records have been broken over the last two decades.

Here's what Flourish say about it:

The winter of 2018 has seen some extreme cold. When the polar vortex froze the US east coast, some people took this as evidence that global warming is a myth. Something similar is now happening as the “Beast from the East” grips Europe. But analysing hundreds of millions of weather records to look for all-time high and low temperatures tells a different story. 

Click the arrow button to begin

You can learn more about the map and how it was made on the Flourish website. For an handy Q&A article on what the 'Beast from the East' snow storm means for Climate Change, check out this guardian article. 

Frederick Mulder Foundation

We are delighted to announce that The Glacier Trust has been awarded a grant of £30,000 spread over three years by the Frederick Mulder Foundation.

This grant is one of three that together fully cover our core costs. This means we can continue to guarantee that 100% of your donation will go to enabling climate change adaptation in Nepal. 

Staff, volunteers and trustees at The Glacier Trust would like to thank the Frederick Mulder Foundation for their generous support.  

Please visit frederickmulderfoundation.org.uk to learn more about the work they support. 

Hope you can spread

Daniel Oberhaus published an article on Motherboard (a branch of Vice magazine) last week. He looked at the emotional toll Climate Change is having on us as we worry more and more about the impact it is having. Oberhaus reports on a thread of tweets by climate scientist turned journalist Eric Holthaus and a condition psychologists are terming pre-traumatic stress disorder. Holthaus was interviewed for the piece and concluded with this quote:

"... climate change is in some ways inevitable at this point, so we have to accept that and realize that there's still positive things we can do in our lifetimes that will make the world better for people who will come after us."

As hard as it is to find something positive to say in the face of the looming climate crisis, or any grave problem, we feel compelled to try. Martin Luther King Jr. is famous for saying ‘I have a dream’ not ‘I have a nightmare’. When we talk about the gravity of the climate crisis, we firstly want audiences to empathise with and perhaps share our feelings of despair, but we don’t want to leave them in that pit of despair. We want to offer them some sense of hope. It was maybe what Oberhaus was doing by ending with the Holthaus quote above.

As Climate Change tightens it’s grip, it will hit the most vulnerable first. Those who are least able to use money to emigrate themselves out of harms way and those least able to build large flood defences, air conditioning systems, roads that do not collapse in the rainy season, water supply systems and so on. There are millions (maybe billions) of people, all over the world, in countries rich and poor, who are vulnerable in this way. As they learn about Climate Change and the fate that awaits them, are they hopeful? What can we do to offer them hope? 

In wealthier countries like the UK, many of us will live out our lives comparatively well insulated from the worst impacts of climate change (thanks to our relative personal and national wealth). Observing the ways we live, those most vulnerable to Climate Change might easily conclude that we are content to ignore them. This of course isn't true, we care deeply. When we learn about flood victims, farmers who have had their crops destroyed and abandoned mountain villages, we are moved and feel something of the despair Eric Holthaus was describing.

In Nepal, vulnerable communities live in hope that TGT and other NGOs will increase their support for climate change adaptation projects. Management of that hope is a delicate process for NGOs, we must provide hope, but we can not over promise. In the UK too we have a role. We can show that positive things are being done to enable climate change adaptation and that they are working - this can help ease the despair (the pre-traumatic stress) we are feeling about climate change. We can also give people an opportunity to take positive action by helping them fundraise or donate money to fund our project work in Nepal.  

DON'T DESPAIR

Take a look at our project news section to learn more about what we do and how we are enabling people in remote mountain communities to adapt to climate change. 

TAKE POSITIVE ACTION

Fundraise for The Glacier Trust, or any other NGO that does great work in the field of Climate Change Adaptation. If you are sporty, or like a physical challenge, how about doing a bespoke fundraising challenge. 

Make a donation to The Glacier Trust. 100% of the money you donate will be spent in Nepal on projects that enable climate change adaptation. You can send a cheque, donate securely via Virgin Money Giving, or set up a standing order to make a regular gift. Please don't forget to Gift Aid your donation if you are eligible.

What is Agroforestry?

There was an excellent article in the Guardian earlier this week on the role Agro Forestry is playing in Brazil to tackle land inequality and environmental degradation. For those new to Agro Forestry (something our projects in Nepal have at their heart) it is also a great introduction into how it works.  

An organisation called the Landless Workers Movement (MST) have been reclaiming unused land and using it to empower local farmers. The farmers have been learning and adopting agro forestry and are now seeing the benefits. The article explains more, but we have pulled out a few quotes that certainly echo what farmers in Nepal tell us: 

Zaqueu Miguel one of the farmers at Mario Lago in south-east Brazil:

In a forest, when a tree falls, it opens a clearing and an infinity of life forms follow. But while in nature this only occurs every now and then, in agro forestry we make it happen more often... We have studies that show that this pulse in the clearings, this falling and growing, is much better in terms of climate, soil and water.

Amar Rai practices agro forestry techniques at his farm in Deusa. The TGT funded Agro Forestry Resource Centre in Deusa, Solukhumbo is working in tandem with our NGO partners to spread agro forestry throughout the region. 

Another farmer at Mario Lago, Nelson Correa: 

In agroforestry we work to regenerate the environment... productivity is a consequence of that regeneration.

Finally, farmer José Ferreira:

He who understands the processes of agroforestry doesn’t go back to conventional farming.

There are more great stories throughout the article. Find out what TGT is doing to enable agro forestry on our project pages. 

Annual return 2016 - 17

The Glacier Trust has submitted its annual return to the Charity Commission. You can view our annual reports on our finances page. 

Please find an extract from the Trustee's report below: 

The Glacier Trust Annual Report

The trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 5 April 2017.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the trust deed, the Charities Act 2011 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016)

Objectives and activities

The objectives of The Trust continue to reflect the tangible effects of climate change upon subsistence-based rural communities living in the Himalayas and their consequences of drought, flooding, landsliding, pest infestation and crop failure.

The trustees believe that education is the most powerful tool enabling communities to adapt to a wide and sometimes extreme range of variations from normal climatic patterns. While The Glacier Trust is willing to provide a small amount of finance towards infrastructures that will enhance their projects (for example materials to build irrigation channels and polytunnels), its main objectives lie in 'hands on' education to enable communities to find the best means of adaptation to suit the particular needs of the local topography and their communities and cultures. In particular the trustees see cash generating programmes, in a ‘for-profit’ type of development, as providing resilience to the effects of climate change. By focussing on better use of existing resources, the Trust's programmes are now beginning to lift subsistence-based communities with low levels of food security into relatively prosperous ones.

The Glacier Trust also seeks to enhance Nepali higher education in aspects of climate change, so that Nepalese university staff and postgraduate students are better placed to understand the problems and provide solutions. Here we have decided to focus on two streams of research: (1) developing the widely under-researched Himalayan permafrost and periglacial studies; and (2) producing research on climate change impacts on upland, rural Nepalese communities and the effect of adaptation interventions. This will inform the likely impacts of a warming climate in these upland regions and of the impacts The Glacier Trust’s type of projects can have. This research can therefore inform potential future projects of the Trust or of other NGOs working in these areas.

The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in deciding what activities the trust should undertake.

The Glacier Trust ran three climate change adaptation projects and one higher education programme in 2016/17. Morgan Phillips made his first visit to Nepal in February 2017, visiting project work in Deurali, Nawalparasi and Deusa/Waku, Solukhumbo. In addition, our Nepal based Co-Director, Richard Allen made visits to both Solukhumbo and Nawalparasi to monitor and report on progress.

Earthquake recovery

The start of the 2016/17 reporting year coincided with the anniversary of the two devastating earthquakes that hit Nepal in the spring of 2015. Unsurprisingly, recovery and rebuilding has dominated life for many in Nepal since. Our NGO partners, EcoHimal Nepal and HICODEF as well as colleagues at HELVETAS and Practical Action with whom we maintain close relationships, have been heavily involved in these efforts. Understandably this has delayed some progress on longer term projects, but through careful management has not had a detrimental impact on our climate change adaptation work. TGT is not an emergency relief organisation, but the extreme toll the earthquakes took in Nepal and the Government’s limited ability to help all those effected meant we had a duty in 2015/16 to raise funds to support those impacted in our project areas.

During his February 2017 visit, Morgan toured sites where funds raised through the TGT Earthquake relief fund were channelled. Progress in Waku, Solukhumbo is impressive. As well as the reconstruction of houses and schools, young adults have received training in carpentry and other construction techniques. These skills have been put to immediate use, but are skills for life that will enhance the careers of those involved. TGT also funded the reconstruction of three houses and a community centre in the village of Kirtipur in Nawalparasi. Building work on two of three houses was near completion in February 2017, progress on the third has been delayed by a family emergency. The new community centre, part funded by TGT, is complete and in full use.

Deusa Agro Forestry Resource Centre

Through our Nepal based NGO delivery partner, Eco Himal Nepal, we continued our support for the Agro Forestry Resource Centre (AFRC) in the village development committee district of Deusa, Solukhumbo.

Deusa Agroforestry Resource Center (DAFRC) has been recognized as an institutional platform for local community in adoption and application of improved agriculture, livestock and forestry practices. It is considered a local institution for supporting the livelihoods of rural farmers of Deusa Village Development Committee (VDC). DAFRC has been promoted as hub for the sharing seeds, seedlings and knowledge. Farmer to farmer dissemination of agroforestry technologies has spread learnings throughout the local communities of Deusa, Waku and surrounding VDCs as well as districts in eastern Nepal.

Sustainable Tree Cropping

In addition, in Deusa and neighbouring Waku, we supported an outreach programme of education and technical support to enable farmers to adopt new climate change resilient agriculture. This Sustainable Tree Cropping programme is delivered by a full time, TGT funded, EcoHimal project officer based in Deusa. Our project officer collaborates closely with the Deusa AFRC.

A total of 456 local households have been trained and oriented on various sustainable tree cropping techniques and practices. The practice has been promoted through 28 lead farmers (21 male and 7 female). As role models, they have been demonstrating the sustainable tree cropping technologies for other farmers. 42 local farmers have been trained on pest management and disease control. 13 agriculture groups (7 in Deusa and 6 in Waku) for production of cash crops have been formed. In some cases these are groups that have reformed after a post-earthquake hiatus. The members have been trained in landslide prevention, learning how and where to plant crops that bind soils and strengthen vulnerable slopes. Group members have been supplied with seedlings through the Sustainable Tree Cropping programme.

Working with experts from Kathmandu based, Swiss NGO, HELVETAS, EcoHimal Nepal facilitated a three-day coffee farming workshop for 28 local farmers in March 2017. Coffee production has accelerated in Deusa and began spreading to Waku as the 28 farmers share and spread knowledge.  We anticipate an increase in coffee production in 2017/18.

Improved cooking stoves

Also in partnership with EcoHimal Nepal, we began the pilot phase of a project that aims to install and embed the use of improved cooking stoves in the remote region of Sankhuwasabha. Progress here has been delayed due to the Earthquake recovery process, which exacerbated the challenges already associated with transporting heavy items to this very remote part of Nepal.

Despite these challenges, our partners EcoHimal Nepal successfully carried out the pre-pilot research phase of the project. They identified thirty suitable homes with whom to test the improved cooking stoves. EcoHimal have also completed an extensive research and development process to select the stoves that are most suitable for the particular environmental conditions of the project area.

An inclusive training manual has been developed and local households have been trained on various issues like forest conservation, climate change and potato cultivation. Training and education on the health impacts of indoor air pollution and the environmental impacts of slash and burn agriculture.  In total, 460 local households have been trained.

Enhancing Community Capacities for Learning and Adaptation to Climate Change (ECCLA)

In partnership with Nepal based NGO HICODEF, we supported three villages in the Deurali VDC of Nawalparasi in southern Nepal. Here the project work focussed on the initial construction phase of a new water supply system; slope stabilisation to improve landslide resilience and provide a source of fodder for livestock; and a series of farmer field school workshops and Climate Change awareness activities.

The irrigation system was designed in collaboration with HICODEF, local civil engineers and the local population in Durlunga Baseni. We broke ground on the construction work in February 2017, with an expected completion date of April 2017.

The second focus was slope stabilisation. 71 households from two of the project villages were involved in broom grass cultivation. Broom grass is a fast-growing crop and an excellent soil stabiliser. Additionally, its leaves can be harvested periodically to provide fodder for livestock. Using marginal and previously barren land in this way increases the agricultural productivity of the area, while also helping to prevent landslides that can disrupt everyday life and in worst cases, cost lives. Led by HICODEF’s TGT funded project officer, farmers collected over 20,000 broom grass seedlings and planted eight hectares of land.

Through a series of farmer field schools and climate change awareness workshops, we enabled farmers in Durlunga Baseni, Sartakun and Tandi to learn and implement new agricultural methods. 62 farmers (42 female, 20 male) attended the workshops. These farmers then organised into nine sub-groups across the three villages. An increase in commercial farming has been observed, with farmers putting their new knowledge and skills to use growing cash crops such as tomato, cauliflower, cabbage and pumpkin. The project is therefore lifting farmers out of subsistence agriculture, but in a climate change aware and ecologically sensitive way.

Higher Education and the Periglacial Environment

In October 2016, a team of three students and four teaching staff from Kathmandu and Tribahvan Universities visited the high mountains of Nepal. They were accompanied by TGT volunteers and experts in the Periglacial environment, Dr. Dhananjay Regmi and Prof. Jeff Kargel. Also accompanying the party was photographer Christopher Parsons who documented the field trip as part of his work with campaign group Project Pressure.

Setting off from Lukla, the team trekked through spectacular geography to the Nuptse Glacier, Imja Lake and Mount Chukkung Ri. The trek took a total of 18 days. Each evening our expert tutors lectured on periglacial and permafrost science, while also helping students with their MSc dissertation projects.

Project activity in 2017-18

During 2017-18 we are continuing our Climate Change Adaptation work in three locations. Projects which will be running throughout the 2017-18 financial year encompass:

• Ensuring project work is better aligned and more coherent to our supporters by amalgamating our Deusa Agro Forestry Resource Centre and Sustainable Tree Cropping programmes into one. Focus here will be on extending the production of Coffee, Macademia, Hazelnuts and other high value and commercially viable crops for the area; the development of six satellite plant nurseries to improve access to AFRC seedling production services and demonstration plots; and upgrades to the AFRC building’s including installation of a solar water heater and improvements to accommodation facilities to enhance the centre’s potential as a location for training events and tourism. The Sustainable Trees Cropping programme will continue to enable adaptation to the growing impacts of Climate Change in Deusa and Waku. Organic and in some cases biodynamic agriculture is promoted and practiced throughout, with a high priority placed on sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
   
• In the Siwalik foothills of the Nepalese Himalaya in the Newalparasi District, we will continue working with local NGO partners HICODEF in three villages. We will complete work on phase one of the water storage and irrigation system in Durlunga Baseni. This project will bring drinking water and enable farmers to irrigate land that has historically been left fallow during the winter dry season. The irrigation system will enable farmers to grow crops all year round, significantly improving their productivity and supporting them to lift themselves out of subsistence agriculture. In addition, we will work with land owners and civil engineers to design a further extension to the irrigation system enabling even more land to be cultivated all year round. To adapt to these changes in the supply of water we will run Farmer Field School education programmes to teach about climate sensitive farming techniques and also provide the materials needed to implement these techniques. Farmers in each project location will be supported by three undergraduate students from local agricultural colleges. These Junior Technical Assistants will also benefit, by gaining valuable practical experience of climate change resilient farming.
   
• We will continue our improved cooking stove (ICSs) project near the Nepali/Tibetan border in the Sankuwasabha district. Thirty stoves will be installed and monitored to ensure they are performing well in the environment and being successfully adopted by the selected households. The ICSs selected in 2016-17 dramatically reduce respiratory diseases as they replace traditional open hearths. The ICSs have chimneys ensuring that most of the smoke generated escapes the building.  These stoves also reduce the pressure on forests for firewood as they use almost 50% less wood, dramatically improving environmental conservation.

In addition to our Climate Change Adaptation work, we will continue to develop our work in the education sector.

• The introduction of nine Junior Technical Assistants to our project work in Nawalparasi will develop the climate change awareness and adaptation skills of the next generation of agriculture professionals in Nepal. We will also begin development of a school and university exchange programme to support the spread of climate change adaptation awareness amongst Nepali and overseas students.

Acknowledgements

During the year, our two Co-Directors Jamie and Morgan, who have both run the day to day workings of the Trust from the UK, have had invaluable support from Richard Allen, our Nepal-based Co-Director, and the four trustees without whom we could not run this organisation. We would also like to thank our patrons, Chris Bonington and Professor Doug Benn.