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Smallholder famers in the developing countries, especially those who mainly depend on rain-fed agriculture, are vulnerable and sensitive to climate change because such agricultural cultivators largely depend on traditional farming techniques, and are less capable of coping with climate change (Krishnamurthy et al., 2013). Like many other developing countries, agricultural production in Nepal is largely dependent on rainfall, which causes high sensitivity to climate change for household food security. This dissertation, which is composed of three main studies, examines how serious climate change affects household food security, as well as the potential strategies households could adopt to cope with food insecurity and climate change. The first study investigates effects of temperature and rainfall trends since 1976 on individual caloric intake and household food diversity using cross-section data from Nepal Living Standard Survey 2010/2011. The analysis utilizes a Copula method to estimate the caloric intake and food diversity models simultaneously. Results show that the estimated correlation parameter between the two models is statistically significant from zero at the 1% level, confirming the validity of using the Copula method. We also find that the rainfall and temperature risk in rural Nepal negatively affects household food security (both caloric intake per capita and food diversity). Findings also highlight the importance of community social capital, coping strategies (i.e., remittance, access to credit, and government support), infrastructure, and agricultural income. The second study uses a Stochastic Frontier Production Model to examine the spatial effects of extreme climate events as well as the mean temperature and rainfall on rice production. We also analyze the factors affecting agricultural production efficiency using panel data from Nepal Living Standard Survey in 2003/2004 and 2010/2011. The results show that 1℃ increase in summer temperature caus

The Kathmandu Valley is a rapidly growing and densely populated largest urban area, which includes the capital city, in Nepal, and it faces the challenge of protecting environment and safeguarding public health. This dissertation spans over three separate papers and addresses the two environmental issues of the Kathmandu valley i.e., management of solid waste and outdoor air pollution. Solid waste management related two papers talk about peoples preference and willingness to pay for improvement in the solid vi waste management service, and the determinants of people's recycling behavior. Outdoor air pollution paper estimates health impact of exposure to outdoor air pollution. All the papers use primary data from a household survey conducted in 2012. Chapter 2 estimates the Kathmandu Valley residents' preferred changes to the existing household solid waste management using a choice experiment survey. Included waste management attributes are waste collection time, community waste management program, waste segregation types, frequency of waste collection and the monthly user fee. According to the results, sub-urban and core-urban residents have distinctively different preference for their most preferred attribute and willingness to segregate waste. For example, people in the core urban area are willing to pay the most (i.e., 404 Rupees per month per household) for having a community waste management program and people in the sub-urban area are willing to pay the most for (480 Rupees per month per household) for scheduled waste collection. Sub-urban area residents are willing to segregate two type of waste, but core urban residents are not willing to segregate any. An average Kathmandu Valley resident prefers having a waste management program and scheduled and frequent waste collection service in his/her community.. Kathmandu Valley residents, however, are willing to accept less frequent collection given the waste is collected in a scheduled time frame, which is an i

The lack of consistent and reliable levels of nutritious food may be one of the most brutal results of poverty. Beyond the human suffering, the lack of food security has damaging economic consequences, making it difficult for communities to break poverty cycles. This dissertation studies the various decisions made by households, governments, and the international community that impact household food security. Food security, the long-term availability of nutritious foods, is essentially achieved through a trade-off of consumption and investment in assets and capital to ensure future availability of food. Chapter 2 builds an optimal control model to analyze the trade-offs between stocks of primary forest and agricultural production. This study highlights the role of ecosystem services provided by stocks of forests, which include protection from flooding and erosion, maintenance of soil quality, and contributions to healthy watersheds. The model developed analyzes food production and consumption decisions in the context of sufficient and consistent access to food, particularly represented by changes in the stock of natural capital, in this case primary forest, which is utilized by the population for various reasons, including being cleared to create room for agriculture production. The case study of forest stocks in Nepal demonstrates the cost reductions achieved in the agriculture sector due to the presence of forest stock. The analysis determines optimal levels of per capita agriculture land for the three geographic belts of Nepal: Terai, Hills, and Mountain regions. Steady states in the model are reached beyond 200 years. Chapter 3 employs data from a World Food Program household survey carried out in 2005, analyzes the role of natural capital, social capital, coping strategies, and levels of violence in determining household food security levels. Using remotely sensed data of two time points--Thematic Mapper (TM) of 1990 and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) of 2000