Abstract:
Communities in the Himalayan region are heavily dependent on natural resources like forests, agriculture and water resources for their existence. In recent times, multiple stressors (variability in climate, environmental degradation, deforestation) acting along at different scales (global, regional and local) have adversely affected these. This talk presents some of the contemporary studies carried out to understand the present status and to contribute for better initiatives for adaptation and mitigation. The talk will broadly cover two sectors, Forest and Agriculture, while describing vulnerability in the Indian Western Himalaya. The research team assumes the findings make sense to assist the policy interventions in enhancing the capacities and supporting the communities in the climate change regimes. Additionally, the adaptation programs in the region need to be more context-specific to accommodate the differential vulnerability profiles.