Nepali version below
The Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC) was a global initiative implemented from 2012 to 2017 to promote the use of ecosystem-based approaches and protect communities from disasters and the negative impacts of climate change. It was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and managed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The project covered seven countries, all relating to a variety of disaster risks and ecosystem types. IUCN Nepal and UNIL-ISTE’s Risk Group co-managed research and field work in Nepal.
The main goal of the EPIC-Nepal project was to catalyze and quantify the role of ecosystems in protecting vulnerable communities against the risks associated with climate change and natural hazards. Its objectives were to:
- Establish demonstration sites for reducing landslide instabilities along road sides using ecosystem-based, locally adapted bioengineering methods;
- Develop capacity building through national and district level workshops that bring together stakeholders from the environmental sector, disaster management, land use planning, development and civil society;
- Advocate ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction at global, national and local levels by influencing policy processes at these various levels.
The publication: “Community-based bio-engineering for Eco-Safe roadsides in Nepal” by Devkota et al. was developed by UNIL-ISTE and IUCN Nepal in 2014 to explain