Background

Winrock International India (WII) was a partner on the collaborative program led by Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, Nepal (ISET-N) with support from IDRC, New Delhi. It was an integrated program of pilot implementation, research, local capacity building and dissemination activities designed to develop, test and document practical interventions that integrate disaster relief, rehabilitation and mitigation and its consequent work with the development of resilient livelihoods and adaptive capacity.

Objective

The goal was to build on the research results from the earlier Adaptive Strategies project, to implement pilot activities at the field level, and to increase understanding and awareness at policy and implementation levels, both national and international, of adaptation processes and the implications such processes have for development, governance, risk reduction and disaster relief initiatives.

Approach

The program focused on sections of South Asia (In India covering sites in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and Tarai in Nepal) that were particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climatic variability and change, including coastal zones and regions affected by floods and droughts.

Specifically, WII was involved in policy research on ecosystems management and the role in adaptive capacity and livelihood resilience, and providing conceptual support to all the field partners.