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The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM) river basins occupy about 1.75 x 10 6 km 2 of the Himalayan region. More than half a billion people in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh are directly or indirectly dependent on the water resources of the GBM rivers. These river basins are characterized by diversified climatic patterns. Analyses of trends and persistence in precipitation over these river basins are necessary for sound water resources planning. Time series of annual precipitation for each of the 16 meteorological subdivisions covering the three river basins were examined for trends using the Mann-Kendall rank statistic, Student's f-test and regression analysis, and for persistence using first order autocorrelation analysis. Results indicate that precipitation in the Ganges basin is by-and-large stable. Precipitation in one subdivision in the Brahmaputra basin shows a decreasing trend and another shows an increasing trend. One of the three subdivisions in the Meghna basin shows a decreasing trend while another shows an increasing trend. Markovian persistence is not present in the precipitation series in the Ganges basin but it is present in two common subdivisions in the Brahmaputra and Meghna basins. Tendances et persistance des précipitations des bassins des fleuves Gange, Brahmapoutre et MeghnaRésumé Les bassins des fleuves Gange, Brahmapoutre et Meghna (GBM) occupent une surface d'à peu près 1.75 x 10 6 de km 2 dans la région Himalayenne. Plus d'un demi milliard de personnes au Népal, en Inde, au Bhoutan et au Bangladesh dépendent directement ou indirectement des ressources d'eau des fleuves GBM. Les bassins de ces fleuves sont caractérisés par des contextes climatiques variés. Des analyses de tendances et de persistance des précipitations de ces bassins se sont révélées nécessaires en vue de réaliser une planification efficace des ressources en eau. Nous avons étudié les séries chronologiques des précipitations annuelles de chacune des seize sous-divisions météorologiques couvrant les trois bassins fluviaux en utilisant la statistique de Mann-Kendall, le test t de Student et l'analyse de régression ainsi que l'auto-corrélation du premier ordre pour les problèmes de persistance. Les résultats indiquent que les précipitations du bassin du Gange sont relativement stables. Les précipitations de l'une des sous-divisions du bassin du Brahmapoutre présentent une tendance décroissante alors que celles d'une autre sous-division présentent une tendance croissante. Il en est de même de deux des trois sous-divisions du bassin du Meghna. La série des précipitations du bassin du Gange ne montre aucune persistance Markovienne que l'on peut au contraire mettre en évidence sur deux sous-divisions communes aux bassins du Brahmapoutre et du Meghna.

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Assessments of adaptation in agriculture have evolved considerably from early, top-down, impact assessments. These early assessments, internationally and in New Zealand, provided a limited view of 'smart farmer' adaptation. While impact assessment provides some useful insights, experience with vulnerability and adaptation assessment provides a more appropriate foundation for understanding and characterising practical smart farmer adaptation. Findings are presented from 8 years of engagement with farmers in eastern regions of New Zealand. A comprehensive farm resilience picture has emerged from this work. This picture reflects a strong belief from real-world smart farmers that there is sufficient knowledge and experience to adapt to climate change. Proactive farmers are already reading multiple signals, including changes in climate, and are responding. The farm resilience picture provides a foundation for exploring alternative adaptation options and pathways for agriculture. These are presented and discussed in response to two proposed climate change scenarios, a high carbon world scenario and a rapidly decarbonising world scenario. Knowledge intensive, low input systems are consistent with the resilience picture drawn from farmers. Such systems are also consistent with a rapidly decarbonising world scenario and, it is argued, are likely to become increasingly attractive under a high carbon world scenario. A smart farming approach, focused on resilience, provides the basis for development of a response capacity, with potentially significant co-benefits in terms of adaptation and mitigation to climate change. Wider issues and needs to support the further development of farm resilience, and more widely landscape or regional resilience, are identified and discussed. It is apparent from this work that ongoing engagement with smart farmers, focused on resilience, can contribute significantly to development of a coordinated 'bottom up' and 'top down' response capacity. Addressing the psychology of change is a fundamental need to ensure wider engagement.