Institutional Strengthening – Adapting to the Changing Climate in the Himalayas

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The climate change adaptation project was piloted in 2009 in four sites in the buffer zone of Langtang National Park in the Sacred Himalayan Landscape in the Eastern Himalayas. The intervention is spearheaded into knowledge base, agriculture/food security, water security, and energy security to build resilience of community and ecosystem. Institutional strengthening is important for the sustainability of the initiatives. The prominent institutions are buffer zone community forestry groups, village development committees, farmer’s school, women-led seed-bank and information center in the area. However, these are carried out on voluntary-basis by the members of the farmer’s school. The interventions should be brought under the existing institutional mechanism. The approval of LAPA indicates the local ownership and helps in allotting some budget from the local development plan. The development activities can then be made ‘climate-proof’ in future. Such approaches can only ensure the sustainability of climate adaptation initiatives piloted in the area.