Climate change is already happening, and its effects, especially on rural communities in India, are particularly adverse. There is a need to highlight key issues and understand the practical challenges that must be addressed, if India is to build the capacities of its rural communities to robustly adapt to climate change and realise the National and State Action Plans on Climate Change (NAPCC and SAPCC).

This experience has catalysed insights, lessons, and experiences from multiple stakeholders, which we have formulated as Position Papers across 12 thematic areas: Watershed Development, Water, Food and Nutrition Security, Agriculture, Livestock, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Disaster Risk Reduction and Risk Prevention, Alternate Energy, Economics and Livelihoods, Health, Gender, and Governance. These papers assess and analyse the key policy and operational challenges faced in building adaptive capacities across sectors, from the perspective of different key stakeholders.