The Panchase Mountain Ecological Region (PMER) is a unique and rich ecosystem located in Nepal’s Mid Hill region and comprises the 17 Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Kaski, Parbat and Syangja districts. The PMER is part of the country’s Western Region (WR).

This report is a presentation of the tools and methods of a vulnerability and impacts assessment (VIA) of both climatic and non-climatic changes on ecosystem services and community livelihoods in the PMER. The assessment was conducted to develop the information and knowledge needed for human-centered adaptation strategies in order to develop a sustainable ecosystem management plan for the PMER and its surrounding areas.

The assessment shows increasing trends in both observed and projected temperatures and the unpredictability of precipitation and extreme weather events. A series of ward-level vulnerability maps show a landscape characterized by mountain hydrology with moderate-to-high slope gradients and south- and west-facing aspects, moderately exposed to the impact of climate change. The combined impact of high-to-moderate sensitivity and exposure indicates that the humanenvironment system is likely to face moderate climatic and non-climatic stress such as the drying up of water sources, increased landslides and floods, biodiversity degradation and declining agricultural productivity. With low to moderate resilience capacity at both agent and system levels, there is a need for EbA options, reflecting the needs of the coupled human-ecological system.