The impact of climate change (CC) on water resources is likely to affect agricultural systems and food security. This is especially critical in a least developed country (LDC) like Nepal where a high percentage of the population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihoods.

To provide the background hydrological information for the assessment of environmental flow requirements at four selected ‘Environmental Flow’ (EF) sites, a hydrological model was set up to simulate the catchment in the present state (with water regulation infrastructure) and to generate the natural flows (without water regulation infrastructure).

India has a long tradition of irrigation, but in the past 40 years a new trend has emerged. As the infrastructure and management of large-scale irrigation schemes have deteriorated, farmers have begun taking water supply into their own hands by extracting groundwater, which has become the mainstay of agriculture in 85% of India