medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Feb 27, 2024
The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with commuting stress using symptomatolo... more The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with commuting stress using symptomatology among tertiary education employees in Georgetown Guyana. A cross sectional survey was conducted among 427 (100 male, 317 female) participants, with a mean age of 29.6(sd=8.7) years. Data about their demographic characteristics, psychosocial measures (perceived stress, coping and resilience), characteristics about their commute (length, mode, and satisfaction with commute infrastructure), and how often they experienced selected symptoms associated with stress on the daily commute was collected using a self administered questionnaire. A commuting stress score was calculated for each participant and this was followed by regression analysis. The results showed that after controlling for resiliency, coping, perception of job, total life stress, income levels and education all of which can contribute to how persons perceive hassles in their lives, the regression model demonstrated that females, persons who used public transportation, persons who have longer commute times and persons who are less satisfied with the commute infrastructure are more likely to report that they experience symptoms associated with stress while engaged in the daily commute compared to males, persons who use private transportation, persons who have shorter commute times and persons who are more satisfied with the commute infrastructure respectively. Once all controlled variables were accounted for, it appears that for this study population, age, where they live and whether or not they actively or passively commuted did not have any meaningful impact on whether they would report if they experienced stress associated symptoms while engaged in the daily commute. he results suggest the need for a multi-pronged approach to address commuting stress, involving individual healthcare, mental-health-centric urban transport design, improved commute infrastructure, and increased employer engagement. Future studies employing qualitative and experimental methods are recommended.
Frontiers in sustainable food systems, Jun 2, 2022
Institutions have a crucial role in communicating climate science into meaningful forms and to de... more Institutions have a crucial role in communicating climate science into meaningful forms and to develop context specific adaptation options. Led by multiple institutions, Climate Smart Village (CSV) in Nepal is an organized approach to designing location specific package of interventions in response to climatic and other ongoing changes in the agricultural system. While addressing the impending risk of climate change and promoting food security objectives in smallholder settings, the CSV approach aims to increase the adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) technologies at the local levels. One of the challenges, however, has been to sustain and scale the CSA technologies and practices. Based on the in-depth review of policy documents, field observations, and interviews with stakeholders involved in the implementation of pilot programs, this study evaluates the institutional framework of the CSV approach in the Gandaki region, Nepal. Our analysis proposes a revised conceptual model of innovation in the agricultural system that contributes to an increase in knowledge, attitude, and skills of multiple stakeholders for agricultural adaptation and the scaling of appropriate options. Our case demonstrates that while the scaling of the CSV approach is a concern, the institutional innovation around CSV has been instrumental in making farmers aware of CSA technologies. This has been done largely through collaboration among public, private, civil society organizations, and communities. This collaborative effort illustrates the possibilities for scaling the CSV approaches in the future and highlights their contribution to climate and development goals.
Impacts of climate change, manifested in different forms, are integrally linked with context-spec... more Impacts of climate change, manifested in different forms, are integrally linked with context-specific socioeconomic , political, and environmental stressors. Dealing with climatic risks, in most parts, requires understanding these mundane location-specific stressors exacerbated by climate variability and change. In large part, the discussion about dealing with impending threats from climate change has relied on policy objectives hatched at the global and national levels. Despite the fact that these policy objectives are responsible for a wide range of actions at the local levels, they often struggle to incorporate the voices of local communities. With the goal of integrating bottom-up and top-down approaches in climate adaptation and connecting them to local development, the Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPA) initiative in Nepal makes a promising case. However, little is known about the institutional barriers and enablers of local adaptation initiatives and how they are affected by the political nature of climate adaptation. Using Nepal's LAPA as a case study and relying on a preliminary field visit, analysis of LAPA documents, and interviews with stakeholders, we reveal several obstacles local communities face that limit their ability to adapt. These obstacles include regular challenges such as insufficient financial resources and the lack of implementation support, to more specific ones such as less recognition of local knowledge and power differences among institutions and between local-level stakeholders having varying interests, power, and views. Our results show gender-based differences on a few key issues. By building on the local knowledge, enhancing local capacity, and by fostering interaction among different actors having unequal power relationships, local efforts such as LAPA can increase the ownership of adaptation policy objectives both at global and local levels. Most importantly, this paper reveals the struggle in linking identified options for dealing with climate change with everyday practices of managing risk and uncertainty.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Oct 14, 2022
The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the UK government's official poli... more The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the UK government's official policies.
"A growing number of innovative economists and other scholars...are challenging us to reeval... more "A growing number of innovative economists and other scholars...are challenging us to reevaluate our profit- and growth-driven economy on the basis of an ethics of inclusion and sustainability. We need an understanding of economic activity that reflects its complexity and is centered on the long-term well-being of humans and the rest of the planet."
As the global environmental issues are increasingly coordinated through international negotiation... more As the global environmental issues are increasingly coordinated through international negotiations, new methods are needed to engage citizens worldwide in the policy-making processes. In this paper, through quantitative analysis of the data from World Wide Views, we draw insight about the citizens' views on issues of climate and energy. We employed bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis to identify significance associated with public views on climate and energy. In bivariate analysis, we used non-parametric statistical tests. Logistic regression was also employed to identify association with specific variables. The results from nonparametric tests by country and country groups show statistically significant associations with citizen's views on curbing GHG emissions through renewable energy, carbon pricing, and devising policies to address climate change. The national contexts also contributed to directing citizens' views with respect to their attitudes and proposed action on climate and energy. More than any other variables, country and country group showed significant relation with public views, highlighting the complexity of global deliberative forums in issues related that transcend international boundaries. Despite common agreement toward a globally binding goal of zero emissions in the Paris agreement, we also found variation at the country level.
Farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) are community managed and operated irrigation systems. T... more Farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) are community managed and operated irrigation systems. They have successfully governed the use of water resources for irrigation in several parts of the world. In the past, agriculture was the primary means of livelihood for over 90% of Nepal’s population, which generated a strong need for collective action to ensure stable water supplies. Today, migration, urbanization, and opening up of new markets have moved the population’s focus away from farming to nonfarm activities, resulting in a decline of collective action in the FMIS. Based on the data collected through field observations, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions from 15 FMIS representing 3 ecological regions of Nepal, this article identifies emerging disturbances to irrigation systems and discusses how they differ by geographical regions. Using the socioecological system framework, this article further assesses robustness of Nepal’s FMIS. The article reveals uncertai...
Climate change adaptation governance involves multiple actors, operating from local to national l... more Climate change adaptation governance involves multiple actors, operating from local to national level, and during their interactions, several challenges may surface and act as barriers to adaptation. While existing studies attempted to create an exhaustive list of barriers by focusing on "what" is occurring, we continue to have a meager understanding of "how" or "why" barriers emerge in the governance process. Selecting Bangladesh as a case study area, we identify the mechanisms that cause the emergence of barriers in the climate change adaptation governance process. We particularly focus on the barriers that emerge through interactions among actors. We base our research on data from key-informant interviews and a systematic literature review. Our analysis reveals that there are at least five mechanisms that are involved in the emergence of barriers: enclosure and exclusion, boundary control, organizational inertia, belief formation, and frame polarization. Our identification of common mechanisms provides insights on actors' roles and activities in adaptation governance and elucidates the processes through which actors' interactions lead to barriers. This mechanism-based analysis of barriers will help to address and navigate through the barriers more effectively to ensure successful adaptation. As climate change is becoming mainstreamed in development plans and policies in our study area, identifying the mechanisms of adaptation barriers can elucidate how development and climate adaptation strategies are affected by identified barriers.
Climate change adaptation requires the engagement of multiple actors in different sectors and at ... more Climate change adaptation requires the engagement of multiple actors in different sectors and at various levels of governance. The different roles played by policy actors and their interactions shape the process of adaptation governance. Nevertheless, to date, there has been limited attention paid to how the structure of relations and their associated power dynamics between these actors affect adaptation governance process at different levels. In this study, we analyzed the structure, processes, and power dynamics entailed in the multilevel governance of adaptation to floods in coastal areas of Bangladesh. We used social network analysis approach to map and unpack the interactions between actors that influence the adaptation governance. We categorized five types of organizations based on the structural attributes of the governance network and their functions. Our analysis shows that the organizations with high influence over the governance process reside at the national level and the adaptation governance process is influenced by elite-pluralism. We found that both top-down and bottom-up processes co-exist in different phases of adaptation governance (planning, implementation, and monitoring). Lastly, we conclude that a more equitable redistribution of power (roles and responsibilities) may diminish the negative implications of federal centralization in adaptation governance.
Governance of climate change has become a major global environmental issue in the 21st century, a... more Governance of climate change has become a major global environmental issue in the 21st century, and in the absence of wider citizen engagement poses risks of global proportions. Much of the current climate governance debate, unfortunately, is limited to scientists, politicians, and interest groups. With few exceptions, everyday citizens are spectators at best, their views, if not absent, are dismally represented in policy processes. To close the widening gap between citizens and policymakers, thereby increasing the sense of ownership of environmental policies by ordinary people, several methods of citizen engagement for global environmental governance have emerged. The effectiveness of these methods, however, relies upon the ability of citizens to deliberate meaningfully, especially in issues such as climate change. We conducted a study in conjunction with World Wide Views on Climate and Energy, a global citizen consultation that aims to solicit carefully considered public views on ...
medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Feb 27, 2024
The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with commuting stress using symptomatolo... more The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with commuting stress using symptomatology among tertiary education employees in Georgetown Guyana. A cross sectional survey was conducted among 427 (100 male, 317 female) participants, with a mean age of 29.6(sd=8.7) years. Data about their demographic characteristics, psychosocial measures (perceived stress, coping and resilience), characteristics about their commute (length, mode, and satisfaction with commute infrastructure), and how often they experienced selected symptoms associated with stress on the daily commute was collected using a self administered questionnaire. A commuting stress score was calculated for each participant and this was followed by regression analysis. The results showed that after controlling for resiliency, coping, perception of job, total life stress, income levels and education all of which can contribute to how persons perceive hassles in their lives, the regression model demonstrated that females, persons who used public transportation, persons who have longer commute times and persons who are less satisfied with the commute infrastructure are more likely to report that they experience symptoms associated with stress while engaged in the daily commute compared to males, persons who use private transportation, persons who have shorter commute times and persons who are more satisfied with the commute infrastructure respectively. Once all controlled variables were accounted for, it appears that for this study population, age, where they live and whether or not they actively or passively commuted did not have any meaningful impact on whether they would report if they experienced stress associated symptoms while engaged in the daily commute. he results suggest the need for a multi-pronged approach to address commuting stress, involving individual healthcare, mental-health-centric urban transport design, improved commute infrastructure, and increased employer engagement. Future studies employing qualitative and experimental methods are recommended.
Frontiers in sustainable food systems, Jun 2, 2022
Institutions have a crucial role in communicating climate science into meaningful forms and to de... more Institutions have a crucial role in communicating climate science into meaningful forms and to develop context specific adaptation options. Led by multiple institutions, Climate Smart Village (CSV) in Nepal is an organized approach to designing location specific package of interventions in response to climatic and other ongoing changes in the agricultural system. While addressing the impending risk of climate change and promoting food security objectives in smallholder settings, the CSV approach aims to increase the adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) technologies at the local levels. One of the challenges, however, has been to sustain and scale the CSA technologies and practices. Based on the in-depth review of policy documents, field observations, and interviews with stakeholders involved in the implementation of pilot programs, this study evaluates the institutional framework of the CSV approach in the Gandaki region, Nepal. Our analysis proposes a revised conceptual model of innovation in the agricultural system that contributes to an increase in knowledge, attitude, and skills of multiple stakeholders for agricultural adaptation and the scaling of appropriate options. Our case demonstrates that while the scaling of the CSV approach is a concern, the institutional innovation around CSV has been instrumental in making farmers aware of CSA technologies. This has been done largely through collaboration among public, private, civil society organizations, and communities. This collaborative effort illustrates the possibilities for scaling the CSV approaches in the future and highlights their contribution to climate and development goals.
Impacts of climate change, manifested in different forms, are integrally linked with context-spec... more Impacts of climate change, manifested in different forms, are integrally linked with context-specific socioeconomic , political, and environmental stressors. Dealing with climatic risks, in most parts, requires understanding these mundane location-specific stressors exacerbated by climate variability and change. In large part, the discussion about dealing with impending threats from climate change has relied on policy objectives hatched at the global and national levels. Despite the fact that these policy objectives are responsible for a wide range of actions at the local levels, they often struggle to incorporate the voices of local communities. With the goal of integrating bottom-up and top-down approaches in climate adaptation and connecting them to local development, the Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPA) initiative in Nepal makes a promising case. However, little is known about the institutional barriers and enablers of local adaptation initiatives and how they are affected by the political nature of climate adaptation. Using Nepal's LAPA as a case study and relying on a preliminary field visit, analysis of LAPA documents, and interviews with stakeholders, we reveal several obstacles local communities face that limit their ability to adapt. These obstacles include regular challenges such as insufficient financial resources and the lack of implementation support, to more specific ones such as less recognition of local knowledge and power differences among institutions and between local-level stakeholders having varying interests, power, and views. Our results show gender-based differences on a few key issues. By building on the local knowledge, enhancing local capacity, and by fostering interaction among different actors having unequal power relationships, local efforts such as LAPA can increase the ownership of adaptation policy objectives both at global and local levels. Most importantly, this paper reveals the struggle in linking identified options for dealing with climate change with everyday practices of managing risk and uncertainty.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Oct 14, 2022
The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the UK government's official poli... more The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the UK government's official policies.
"A growing number of innovative economists and other scholars...are challenging us to reeval... more "A growing number of innovative economists and other scholars...are challenging us to reevaluate our profit- and growth-driven economy on the basis of an ethics of inclusion and sustainability. We need an understanding of economic activity that reflects its complexity and is centered on the long-term well-being of humans and the rest of the planet."
As the global environmental issues are increasingly coordinated through international negotiation... more As the global environmental issues are increasingly coordinated through international negotiations, new methods are needed to engage citizens worldwide in the policy-making processes. In this paper, through quantitative analysis of the data from World Wide Views, we draw insight about the citizens' views on issues of climate and energy. We employed bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis to identify significance associated with public views on climate and energy. In bivariate analysis, we used non-parametric statistical tests. Logistic regression was also employed to identify association with specific variables. The results from nonparametric tests by country and country groups show statistically significant associations with citizen's views on curbing GHG emissions through renewable energy, carbon pricing, and devising policies to address climate change. The national contexts also contributed to directing citizens' views with respect to their attitudes and proposed action on climate and energy. More than any other variables, country and country group showed significant relation with public views, highlighting the complexity of global deliberative forums in issues related that transcend international boundaries. Despite common agreement toward a globally binding goal of zero emissions in the Paris agreement, we also found variation at the country level.
Farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) are community managed and operated irrigation systems. T... more Farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) are community managed and operated irrigation systems. They have successfully governed the use of water resources for irrigation in several parts of the world. In the past, agriculture was the primary means of livelihood for over 90% of Nepal’s population, which generated a strong need for collective action to ensure stable water supplies. Today, migration, urbanization, and opening up of new markets have moved the population’s focus away from farming to nonfarm activities, resulting in a decline of collective action in the FMIS. Based on the data collected through field observations, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions from 15 FMIS representing 3 ecological regions of Nepal, this article identifies emerging disturbances to irrigation systems and discusses how they differ by geographical regions. Using the socioecological system framework, this article further assesses robustness of Nepal’s FMIS. The article reveals uncertai...
Climate change adaptation governance involves multiple actors, operating from local to national l... more Climate change adaptation governance involves multiple actors, operating from local to national level, and during their interactions, several challenges may surface and act as barriers to adaptation. While existing studies attempted to create an exhaustive list of barriers by focusing on "what" is occurring, we continue to have a meager understanding of "how" or "why" barriers emerge in the governance process. Selecting Bangladesh as a case study area, we identify the mechanisms that cause the emergence of barriers in the climate change adaptation governance process. We particularly focus on the barriers that emerge through interactions among actors. We base our research on data from key-informant interviews and a systematic literature review. Our analysis reveals that there are at least five mechanisms that are involved in the emergence of barriers: enclosure and exclusion, boundary control, organizational inertia, belief formation, and frame polarization. Our identification of common mechanisms provides insights on actors' roles and activities in adaptation governance and elucidates the processes through which actors' interactions lead to barriers. This mechanism-based analysis of barriers will help to address and navigate through the barriers more effectively to ensure successful adaptation. As climate change is becoming mainstreamed in development plans and policies in our study area, identifying the mechanisms of adaptation barriers can elucidate how development and climate adaptation strategies are affected by identified barriers.
Climate change adaptation requires the engagement of multiple actors in different sectors and at ... more Climate change adaptation requires the engagement of multiple actors in different sectors and at various levels of governance. The different roles played by policy actors and their interactions shape the process of adaptation governance. Nevertheless, to date, there has been limited attention paid to how the structure of relations and their associated power dynamics between these actors affect adaptation governance process at different levels. In this study, we analyzed the structure, processes, and power dynamics entailed in the multilevel governance of adaptation to floods in coastal areas of Bangladesh. We used social network analysis approach to map and unpack the interactions between actors that influence the adaptation governance. We categorized five types of organizations based on the structural attributes of the governance network and their functions. Our analysis shows that the organizations with high influence over the governance process reside at the national level and the adaptation governance process is influenced by elite-pluralism. We found that both top-down and bottom-up processes co-exist in different phases of adaptation governance (planning, implementation, and monitoring). Lastly, we conclude that a more equitable redistribution of power (roles and responsibilities) may diminish the negative implications of federal centralization in adaptation governance.
Governance of climate change has become a major global environmental issue in the 21st century, a... more Governance of climate change has become a major global environmental issue in the 21st century, and in the absence of wider citizen engagement poses risks of global proportions. Much of the current climate governance debate, unfortunately, is limited to scientists, politicians, and interest groups. With few exceptions, everyday citizens are spectators at best, their views, if not absent, are dismally represented in policy processes. To close the widening gap between citizens and policymakers, thereby increasing the sense of ownership of environmental policies by ordinary people, several methods of citizen engagement for global environmental governance have emerged. The effectiveness of these methods, however, relies upon the ability of citizens to deliberate meaningfully, especially in issues such as climate change. We conducted a study in conjunction with World Wide Views on Climate and Energy, a global citizen consultation that aims to solicit carefully considered public views on ...
Uploads
Papers by Netra Chhetri