Himachal villages adopt 25 climate adaptation measures, CEEW-ICIMOD study finds

More than 100 experts, scientists, environmentalists, farmers and local residents from 12 gram panchayats across four districts of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday participated in a national dialogue here to discuss climate change adaptation, with a new study documenting 25 community-led solutions to address increasing climate risks.

More than 100 experts, scientists, environmentalists, farmers and local residents from 12 gram panchayats across four districts of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday participated in a national dialogue here to discuss climate change adaptation, with a new study documenting 25 community-led solutions to address increasing climate risks. The study, conducted by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) with support from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), found that communities across Mandi, Kullu, Shimla and Sirmaur districts were already implementing adaptation measures ranging from changing crop patterns and natural farming to reviving traditional water sources and strengthening village-level disaster preparedness.

The findings were presented at a multi-stakeholder dialogue in Shimla, bringing together representatives of the Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, agriculture and horticulture departments, irrigation and water-related departments, research institutions, NGOs and civil society organisations. The study, titled How Can Himalayan Communities Anticipate Risks and Adapt to a Changing Climate? Evidence from 12 Gram Panchayats in Himachal Pradesh, documented the adaptation practices through field visits, focus group discussions and consultations with local communities.

According to the study, all 12 gram panchayats examined reported socio-economic impacts of changing climate conditions and had undertaken adaptation measures suited to their local circumstances. The researchers identified 25 anticipatory adaptation solutions across five sectors — agriculture, infrastructure, water stress, disaster management, and climate sensitisation and knowledge sharing.

Speaking to ANI, Shreya Wadhwan, Programme Lead and co-author of the study at CEEW, said the research focused on understanding both climate vulnerabilities and the resilience of communities in Himachal Pradesh. "The impacts of climate change are not new to the people and communities living here. However, in recent years, these impacts have started increasing in frequency and intensity, affecting livelihoods and how people survive on a day-to-day basis," she said.

Wadhwan said the research had identified several solutions already being implemented by communities to respond to changing climatic conditions. These included shifting from apple cultivation to persimmon cultivation due to rising temperatures and declining snowfall, adopting natural farming practices, and undertaking water-basin mapping and trenching to address water stress during summer.

She said the dialogue was aimed at bringing communities, government departments and research institutions together to strengthen these initiatives and develop strategies for future climate risks. "We identified 25 different anticipatory measures or adaptation solutions across five sectors. These are solutions that have directly been implemented by communities in their regions to build their capacity against the impacts of climate change," Wadhwan said.

She said the exercise also focused on how government interventions, scientific research and technical support could help scale up community-led initiatives. Wadhwan said communities had traditionally been the first responders during disasters and should now receive stronger institutional and technical support.

"The communities have always been the first responders for disaster-related emergencies. Now it is important for us to come together with the communities and capacitate them through research, technical capacities, data, information and awareness," she said. She said government schemes, including Aapda Mitra, local youth volunteer initiatives and self-help group programmes, could help strengthen preparedness and enable communities to respond more proactively to extreme weather events.

The study also highlighted the importance of early warning systems, particularly in remote mountain villages where timely information could help people evacuate before hazards struck. Wadhwan said early warning systems were emerging as one of the most critical adaptation measures for disaster resilience, but their effectiveness depended on reaching the last mile.

She said mountain communities needed impact-based warning systems that provided sufficient time to respond to impending hazards. The study documented several examples of adaptation measures undertaken by communities across the four districts. In Bajaura in Kullu district, farmers have shifted from apple cultivation to pomegranate and subsequently persimmon as changing climatic conditions and plant diseases affected their crops.

In Sandhu in Shimla district, natural farming has spread to more than 20 families after farmers found it profitable and comparatively resilient to extreme climatic events. In Parara in Sirmaur district, farmers have adopted integrated farming practices, including cultivating garlic alongside special varieties of apples. The study also highlighted efforts to revive traditional water sources. In Thana Kashoga in Sirmaur district, women-led groups have been working to restore traditional baoris, or spring-fed water tanks, which have declined from around 35 to 10.

With training and support from the People’s Science Institute and Centre for Business and Entrepreneurial Development, women groups have been cleaning the water sources regularly. Five springs have been revived, while restoration work is underway on another five or six. The study also documented village-level disaster preparedness initiatives. Shoghi near Shimla established a village disaster management committee with the support of ADRA India following the 2023 landslides and floods.

Villagers have since received training in first aid and evacuation procedures. The researchers said strengthening such local institutions could help improve preparedness and reduce the risks associated with extreme weather events. Dr Amina Maharjan, Senior Livelihoods and Migration Specialist at ICIMOD and IPCC Lead Author on Adaptation, Impacts and Vulnerability, said climate-related disasters in the Himalayan region were becoming increasingly complex and interconnected.

Speaking to ANI, Maharjan said recent disasters in the Himalayan region had demonstrated how multiple hazards could occur together, creating cascading impacts on communities and infrastructure. She said climate change, rising temperatures and rapid melting of glaciers and snow were contributing to changes in the nature and intensity of disasters.

Maharjan said the region needed greater cooperation among mountain communities, governments and research institutions to prepare for these emerging challenges. She said Himachal Pradesh had demonstrated that development was possible in mountain regions, but communities needed support to sustain livelihoods and adapt to changing climatic conditions.

"Himachal has always shown that it is possible to have development and fulfil aspirations in a mountain context, whether through apple cultivation or tourism," she said. She said communities had played a proactive role in responding to climate-related challenges and that adaptation could not be left entirely to state and central governments.

"Certain roles the communities and local governments have to take. Of course, without the support of state and central governments, it is not going to happen," Maharjan said. She said regional cooperation among mountain communities in Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, Bhutan and other countries could help share experiences and develop solutions to climate-related disasters.

Maharjan said the changing nature of disasters required approaches beyond conventional disaster management. She said glacier lakes across the Hindu Kush Himalayan region were changing and expanding, while monitoring all potentially dangerous lakes remained a major challenge. She emphasised the need for stronger monitoring, forecasting and preparedness systems to address risks associated with glacier instability, avalanches and floods.

The study recommended strengthening village-level disaster management committees, integrating climate adaptation into gram panchayat development plans and providing technical support to communities implementing adaptation measures. It also suggested using existing government policies and schemes to support the 25 identified solutions. The researchers said more than 30 existing policies and schemes could potentially support community-led adaptation initiatives. The study further recommended that disaster management authorities adopt forecast-based financing, under which funds could be released when predefined risk thresholds were crossed. It also proposed the establishment of a foresight cell within the National Disaster Management Authority to strengthen anticipatory planning.

The researchers said strategic foresight could help communities and institutions identify possible future risks and take action before disasters occurred. The study was based on field visits and focus group discussions in 12 gram panchayats selected across four districts, along with consultations and workshops conducted during 2025. The researchers clarified that the findings were specific to the selected panchayats and were not representative of the entire state.

Duni Chand Rana, Managing Director of Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC) and HP Agro Industries Corporation, said the research provided ground-level evidence of how climate extremes were affecting livelihoods, infrastructure, horticulture, supply chains and tourism. He said changing temperatures and snowfall patterns were affecting apple flowering, harvesting and fruit quality, highlighting the need to integrate anticipatory action into development planning.

Additional Secretary Revenue and Disaster Management Nishant Thakur said recent floods and landslides had caused significant losses in Himachal Pradesh and highlighted the need to strengthen preparedness. He said the state was using GIS, rapid incident reporting systems and emerging technologies to identify risks and improve disaster response. Rajeev Ahal, Executive Director of the Himalayan Institute for Transformative Action, said climate adaptation required coordination among state, district and village-level institutions. He said Himachal Pradesh could emerge as a leading example in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region by expanding the initiative to more than 100 villages.

The dialogue was co-hosted with communities that had contributed data and information to the research over the past two and a half years. (ANI)