The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the public health and societal implications of climate change in South East Asia, and create a framework for planning national and regional responses.

The livelihood options of landless households of far western Nepal are wage labor, farming and seasonal migration to India. Food sufficiency is barely enough for 0-3 months a year for most. When food is scarce, they cope by borrowing money, buying food, occasional wager labor as domestic servants, less popular and cheaper or wild food, skipping meals and eating less. These options are embedded with social relation in terms of class, caste and gender and social institutions.

Global food prices nearly doubled during 2004-08 and have remained relatively high since then. In South Asia, food price inflation varied significantly among countries.

Read this special report published in Down To Earth on Nirma, the detergent company that gave false information to obtain clearance for its cement plant in coastal Saurashtra.

As the notion of climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels gains more and more prominence in the eyes of the public and policymakers, the push toward the increasing role of renewable energy sources is seen as one of the key solutions to the problem.