Assessment of climate resilience of onsite sanitation system in Nepal using SCARE Framework

Sanitation systems are affected by climate change either directly or indirectly by hazards such as landslides, floods, and water shortages. However, there are very few frameworks that comprehensively address climate resilience of the sanitation system across the entire sanitation value chain. The Sanitation and Climate: Assessing Resilience and Emissions (SCARE) framework offers a promising approach to filling this gap. We applied to assess the resilience of onsite sanitation systems in 13 municipalities across Nepal. The framework provides the two broad categories of resilience: a) specific adaptive capacity to disasters and b) general adaptive capacity of household, service providers and local government. Data about resilience was collected using semi-structured household questionnaires, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations. A final scorecard for municipalities was developed based on the scores for each variable in the framework. Priorities to improve resilience of sanitation vary across municipalities depending on the types of climate hazards they face. Sanitation infrastructure in lowland areas tended to be highly exposed and highly sensitive and so less resilient to floods, whereas sanitation infrastructure in mountainous and mid-hill regions were less resilient to landslides. Water shortages were more likely to impact sanitation facilities in mid-hill regions compared to lowland areas. General adaptive capacity assessments indicate that households have a higher level of adaptive capacity compared to service providers and local governments. The scorecard approach based on the scores from the SCARE framework is valuable in identifying priority areas for support to increase climate resilience of sanitation systems.