Effects of Climate Change on the Livestock Population in Mustang District, Nepal

There is strong evidence to suggest that climate change has affected and will continue to affect the occurrence, distribution, and prevalence of livestock diseases in Nepal. This study investigated how climate change has affected the livestock population in Mustang District. The outbreak of new diseases, changes in disease patterns, increase in cases of external and internal parasites, decrease in the availability of forage and fodder, and deterioration of pasture land were the major climate change effects observed. The number of livestock has decreased, resulting in declining income from livestockrelated activities of Jomsom and Kagbeni, two Village Development Committees in the Mustang District where people are seeking alternative occupations. The results revealed that some signs of climate change were experienced by rural communities in the study sites, such as an increasing number of warm days and a decreasing number of cold days. The different measures that people have adopted to lessen the impacts of climate change on the livestock population were also identified.