Budget governance for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation under Nepal’s new federal system

Floods affect more people globally than any other type of natural hazard, with over 734 million people affected in the last ten years (IFRC, 2018). With climate change, flood impacts on countries and communities are projected to increase. Nepal is exposed to a multitude of natural and human-induced hazards due to its diverse topography and complex geography. The country ranks fourth in the world to climate vulnerability (Germanwatch, 2018) and 80 percent of the land is vulnerable to multiple natural hazards (GFDRR, 2019). Climate related disasters such as droughts, floods, and landslides undermine agricultural production which employs 70 percent of the population and accounts for 30 percent of GDP. Severe flooding in August 2017 affected 1.7 million people and caused devastation amounting to 585 million USD – three percent of Nepal’s GDP (Government of Nepal, 2017).