Sustainability scientist Netra Chhetri leads an interdisciplinary team of scholars and practitioners working on a project in western Nepal to help farmers adapt effectively to climatic change. The team includes representatives from ASU, University of Hawaii, Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development (a Nepali NGO), Regional Directorates of the Department of Livestock Services, Western Region, and the Regional Agriculture Research Station, Lumle (agricultural and livestock research and extension agencies of the Government of Nepal), and Agriculture and Forest University (a Nepali university).

Chhetri’s three-year project, Adaptive Pathways to Climate Change (APaCC): Livestock and Livelihood Systems in Gandaki River Basin, examines the adaptive capacity of farmers and livestock keepers vulnerable to climate and other livelihood stressors, and links this understanding to locally relevant climate adaptation methods in the Gandaki River Basin. His research advances understanding of how a society’s adaptive capacity to climate variability and change is shaped by the geographical region’s social, political, institutional and biophysical contexts. He commented, “We believe that carefully generated and user-driven knowledge enhances the capacity of farmers to adapt to the threat posed by climate and other ongoing changes.”