Rapid climate change in the Himalaya threatens the traditional livelihoods of remote mountain communities, challenges traditional systems of knowledge, and stresses existing socio-ecological systems. Through semi-structured interviews, participatory photography, and repeat photography focused on climate change and its impacts on traditional livelihoods, we aim to shed light on some of the socio-cultural implications of climate related change in Manang, a remote village in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Western Nepal. Observed changes in temperature, precipitation, permanent snow cover, and glacial extent directly inform villagers’ perceptions of and adaptations to Himalayan climate change. Adaptation strategies include a shift from traditional agropastoral practices to a more diversified blend of agropastoralism, tourism services, and cash-crop production. Climate change has tipped the scales in favor of the production of fruits and vegetables, cash crops previously unsuitable to the local climate. Diversification of livelihood strategies signifies transformation within the socio-ecological system of Manang and may enable greater resiliency to long-term climatic change. Continued development of relevant, place-based adaptations to rapid Himalayan climate change depends on local peoples’ ability to understand the potential impacts of climate change and to adjust within complex, traditional socio-ecological systems.

A cross-sectional study was conducted at National Avian Disease Investigation Laboratory, Chitwan to determine antibiogram of Escherichia coli isolated from avian colibacillosis cases of broilers and layers in Chitwan. One hundred and sixty (95 from broilers and 65 from layers) liver samples were collected aseptically during postmortem. Samples were taken purposively from dead birds showing lesions perihepatitis, pericarditis, air-saculitis, omphalitis and egg peritonitis. Isolation and identification were made by examination of cultural characteristics of E. coli in MacConkey’s agar, Eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar, Gram’s staining and biochemical tests. Antibiogram of identified E. coli isolate was evaluated against six antibiotics of six different groups by disk diffusion method following CLSI guidelines. One hundred and three E. coliisolates (73 from broilers and 30 from layers) were isolated from one hundred and sixty samples. Highest resistance was observed against Ampicillin (100%) followed by Co-trimoxazole (86.40%), Doxycycline (46.60%), Levofloxacin (45.63%), Nitrofurantoin (26.21%) and Amikacin (10.68%). Nearly about all (96.12%) isolates from 103 isolated E. coli isolates showed multidrugs resistance to two or more than two antimicrobials. All multidrug resistance isolates showed 16 different patterns with each isolate being resistance to at least two drugs. The multiple antibiotic resistance indexing ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 and proportion of isolates with MAR index greater than 0.2 was 96.12%. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 8(1): 52-60  

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From 11,971 species of flowering and non-flowering plants, including fungi and lichens [18] more than 2,300 have medicinal value [19] while 300 are traded and exported from Nepal [20].

A study was carried out from January to December 2012 among pig farming communities of Kathmandu and Morang districts of Nepal to determine knowledge regarding Japanese encephalitis (JE) disease. In this comparative study, 100 pig farmers were surveyed in each district Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection. The research observation revealed that the pig farming communities in both districts were poor, illiterate, having no training, highly dependent on pig farming occupation and some were landless. Comparatively, Kathmandu pig farmers had better education, training on pig farming and income status but less land ownership than Morang pig farmers. Male and female respondents were equal in Kathmandu and nearly equal in case of Morang district. There was significant difference (P<0.05) regarding knowledge of JE in two districts. In Kathmandu, 42% pig farmers were aware of JE while in Morang only 25% were having knowledge of it. Study district, literacy status and gender of pig farmers were significantly associated (P<0.05) with JE awareness. Literate farmers (41.5%) were more aware than illiterate (24.5%) and males (43.5%) were much aware than females (21.7%). There was also significant difference (P<0.05) between pig as vector for zoonotic disease and knowledge regarding JE.