Climate change impact: Water crisis empties village

MYAGDI: The ‘Dhegaun’ of Loghekar Damodarkunda Rural Municipality-5 of Mustang, which was full of human settlement two decades ago, is now turning empty.

Climate change is believably one of the reasons behind the eviction of villagers. With drying up of water sources in the village due to the effects of climate change, people were forced to leave the settlement.

The mass displacement did not only desert the village but also cause gradual disappearance of local traditions, culture and history.

Old houses are collapsing and the settlement looks ruined and rugged. Hundreds of hectares of cultivable land have turned barren due to the outflow of the locals in search of water.

Loghekar Damodarkunda rural municipality-5 ward chair Pasang Gurung said there was no one living in the village due to internal migration with the deepening water crisis.

“After the drying up of irrigation and drinking water sources, there was no condition to live”, he said. People are forced to abandon their settlements with humans and animals being deprived of access to drinking water.

The ward chair bemoaned although he had spent his life at Dhe village since childhood, he was now forced to leave due to the water crisis.

Farming and livestock are the main sources of livelihood for the people. Ward Chair Gurung said that the water source has dried up after low volume of snowfall in the winter. “Snow was the main source of water, but due to climate change, there was a decreasing volume of snow”, he said. According to him, the locals now go to the cowshed only to graze sheep and goats in the rainy season.

Agricultural land has not been cultivated when there was no adequate rainfall and drying up of irrigation water sources.

Dhey village was located in ward 9 of the then Surkhang Village Development Committee. At present, Dhe and Thamjung fall in the same ward. There is a large population of Gurung and Lowa people here.

The then VDCs and district development committees had initiated the process of relocating the settlements when water shortage was looming large.

Ward Chair Gurung said that infrastructure has been constructed in the new settlement with the help of the government and donor agencies. They are cultivating apples in the new settlement.

“We have been affected the most by the rise in temperature and climate change”, he said.

The Dhe village is about 4,000 meters above sea level. The Thamjung-based new settlement on the banks of the river is at an altitude of 3,700 meters.

At present, there are 26 households in the village. Along with the settlement, the school has been shifted to Thamjung. Since 2064 BS, the migration to Thamjung had started.

Thamjung, which is close to Charang and Surkhang, has drinking water, electricity and other facilities.