Uttarakhand is home to forests, glaciers and importantrivers. The eastern Himalayan state is also particularlyvulnerable to climate impacts including the increased risk ofextreme weather events such as flash floods and droughts.iForest and agriculture-dependent livelihoods, as well asdevelopment factors such as the rapid expansion of tourismand other infrastructure have exacerbated that vulnerability.

Recognising the growing threat of climate impacts in India,in 2009, the central government asked all states and UnionTerritories to develop climate action plans.iii The UttarakhandAction Plan on Climate Change (UAPCC) was prepared in2011 and endorsed by the Government of India in 2015.

The UAPCC recognises that “a vulnerability and riskanalysis” is an important first step in developing structuredresearch on climate impacts to help prioritise climate actionand ultimately integrate climate action in developmentplanning.v In 2013, the Government of Uttarakhandrequested support from the Climate and DevelopmentKnowledge Network (CDKN) for the development of aclimate vulnerability and risk assessment (VRA) in theState. Following expert stakeholder consultation, it wasdecided that while the VRA would provide a top-downevidence base for climate resilient planning, it would needto be aligned with bottom-up community level vulnerabilityand draw clear linkages between climate impacts andcurrent policies to help policy makers focus on next steps