The family of Lalit Thapa from Dudhauli Municipality-3, Upper Khuttepani in Sindhuli district of Nepal’s Bagmati Province, could barely sleep during rainy nights.
He recalls how they had to stay on alert, worried that the torrential stream “Khare” flowing from the forest above their house would flood their home.
“When it rained, we’d get up around midnight or 1 am to monitor the stream,” he said. “This year, for the first time, we could sleep peacefully even during the rains.”
This new found peace is due to a check dam constructed on the Khare stream within the Barahi Community Forest area. The dam has mitigated the flow of the stream, providing safety to about 40 families in the area during this year’s monsoon.
A check dam is a small dam constructed across a drainage ditch, swale, or channel to lower the velocity of flow.

One of the most fragile mountain ranges in South Asia, the Chure region spans 37 districts of Nepal, stretching from East Mechi to West Mahakali.
As the youngest mountain range, formed around 40 million years ago during the Himalayan formation, its fragile terrain often causes landslides and erosion during the monsoon. Settlements in districts like Dhanusha, Dadeldhura, and Sindhuli have been displaced due to these issues.
However, the erosion and Gully Stream Control and Climate Resilient Program, implemented in the Chure region covering Koshi, Madhesh, and Bagmati provinces, showed promising results. By controlling gullies and streams originating from the Chure range, the initiative has protected downstream settlements and reduced soil erosion. Locals have gained confidence that the interventions like check dams can successfully mitigate the effects of water flow and erosion.
Kshetra Bahadur Poudel, chairman of the Barahi Community Forest Useres Groups, admitted that he was initially skeptical about the effectiveness of check dams. “We didn’t believe these dams could control the water flow,” he added. “But now, we’ve learned that even small efforts can make a significant difference.”
Under the Project, check dams have been installed in gullies like Ghonda and Aapkhola in the Barahi Community Forest.
Madhav Prasad Ghimire, a local resident, told The Climate Watch that these interventions have stopped the erosion of cultivable land.
“Grass has started growing in the previously barren gullies, and we’ve planted trees, including bamboo,” he said.
This serves as an example of how similar interventions can protect the Terai from becoming a desert, Madhav added.
The success of such efforts is also evident in Bardibas of Mahottari and Kamalamai Municipality-8 of Sindhuli. Prem Bahadur Thokar from Kamalamai Municipality-8 shares that check dams have provided peace of mind during the rainy season.
He recounted how a house and cowshed were swept away by the Thapa Khare stream last year. “This year, after installing protective fencing and planting trees along the banks, we haven’t experienced the same devastation.”
Goals, challenges of Churia Resilient Project
The Budling a Resilient Churia Project, supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), has been operational since 2020. With a grant of $39.3 million out of a total project cost of $47.3 million, the initiative aims to enhance the climate resilience of ecosystems and vulnerable communities through climate-resilient land-use practices.
The fund was granted in November 2019.
The project spans 26 river systems in the Chure (also Churia) region and mobilises over 750 community groups. Of the total project area, 16,311 hectares are flood-prone zones.
Despite its promise, the project faces significant procedural challenges. Nepal is among the countries most affected by climate change, and the GCF was established in 2010 under the UNFCCC to provide financial assistance to such nations. However, the lengthy process for project approval often delays implementation.
When contacted, Nabaraj Pudasaini, joint secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Environment and Project Chief of the Building a Resilient Churia acknowledged these hurdles.
“The GCF process takes four to five years from concept to approval,” he said. “By the time a project is approved, its initial concept may already be outdated. Moreover, since the GCF operates through intermediary agencies rather than directly with governments, this adds further delays.”
The Churia Uplift Project, for instance, began its proposal process in April 2017, but approval was only granted in October 2019. Implementation finally started in May 2020.
According to Pudasaini, misaligned fiscal calendars between Nepal and donors, along with procurement issues, further complicate matters. “Work often begins late in the fiscal year, which creates a rush to complete projects by Asar (mid-July),” he added.
Local communities also highlight these inefficiencies.
Bidhya Bhandari, secretary of the Ratu Mahila Community Forest in Bardibas Municipality-3, said that the program’s budget is often approved at the last minute, forcing us to complete work in haste.
“If we received funding earlier, we could plan better and achieve more impactful results.”
Nepal as a climate-vulnerable country
Nepal is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts and recent studies by the Asian Development Bank suggested Nepal faces losing 2.2% of annual GDP due to climate change by 2050, says a World Bank study.
“Nepal ratified the Paris Climate Agreement and its Second Nationally Determined Communication (NDC) in 2020. Nepal’s Second National Communication to the UNFCCC (2014) (NC2) identifies the country’s energy, agriculture, water resources, forestry and biodiversity and health sectors as the most at risk to climate change,” it adds.
While the landlocked Himalayan nation contributes merely 0.027% of the global greenhouse gas emissions, it is the 4th most vulnerable country in the world to climate change.
More than 200 people were killed and thousands of houses damaged in flooding and landslides starting in late September this year alone in the Kathmandu valley in one of the heaviest downpours in recent years.
Experts say climate change has indeed made floods in Nepal more frequent and intense in recent years.
Pawan Bhattarai, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Tribhuvan University, told a global media outlet that extreme weather events are occurring more frequently and the rainfall pattern is becoming increasingly unpredictable which can be attributed to climate change.