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As climate-induced hazards multiply manifold, India is preparing a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) — a first of its kind national policy response that is targeted at reducing the vulnerability of communities across the country. The plan majorly entails building adaptive capacities and resilience at a national scale.
The NAP also aims at facilitating the integration of climate change adaptation with relevant upcoming and existing policies, programmes, development planning processes and strategies.
Simply put, climate adaptation means taking action to prepare for and adjust to the current and projected impacts of climate change. For the development of India’s NAP, multi-stakeholder consultations are underway.
One such national workshop was held recently on February 10-11 at Integrated Centre for Adaptation to Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainability (ICARS)which is located within the premises of IIT Roorkee’s campus in Delhi NCR’s Greater Noida.
“Environment ministry is the nodal ministry for developing India’s National Adaptation Plan, which should be ready by the end of this year, before COP30,” said Ruchika Drall, Deputy Secretary (Climate Change), Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC), or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP30, is to be held in Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025. India’s NAP is to be submitted to the UNFCCC secretariat.
“For preparation of the national plan, we have identified nine key sectors represented by nine ministries and their respective expert research institutions. For disaster risk reduction, NDMA [National Disaster Management Authority] is the lead and ICARS is the anchor institute,” informed Drall.
The environment ministry is also carrying out climate vulnerability studies for each of the nine sectors to identify priority regions and resource allocation, she added.
Apart from senior government officials from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), NDMA, and MoEFCC, various experts and organisations working on disaster risk reduction attended the two-day National Consultation Workshop on Disaster Management and Resilient Infrastructure Resilience in Changing Climate and Environmental Risks.
“In times of climate change, disaster risk reduction has to be mainstreamed and made a part of the planning exercise till village level,” said Anil Gupta, professor & chief executive of ICARS, a centre of excellence of Government of India.
“Apart from guiding in the process of preparation of the NAP, our institute is also preparing a national agenda for the next 25 years of disaster research in the country. We will regularly bring out the Annual Disaster Risk, Resilience and Recovery report, and are also compiling an India Adaptation Dossier in an inventory format with grassroots experiences, best practice case studies and more,” he added.
Krishna S Vatsa, member of NDMA also attended the consultation and stressed on the need for nature-based and ecosystem approaches to be at the heart of the adaptation plan. He also pointed out the need for integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate adaptation into governance systems at all levels.
“India already has its National Action Plan on Climate Change in place and is now preparing its National Adaptation Plan in compliance with the Paris Agreement,” said Vatsa.
Anita Gupta, Head (Climate Change, Energy and Sustainable Technology) at DST pointed out that India was on track to meet its 2030 climate mitigation targets. But the country also needs a strong National Adaptation Plan as it is facing a quadrilemma. It is the most populous country which needs economic growth, environmental sustainability, energy security and ecological protection, she said.
It was during the COP at its 16th session when the process to formulate and implement NAPs was established to identify medium- along with long-term adaptation needs and developing and implementing strategies and programmes to address those needs.
National adaptation plans are key for developing countries to identify their resilience-building needs and access the necessary funding to implement adaptation action.
According to UNFCCC, 142 developing countries that are Parties to it are undertaking measures to formulate and implement NAPs. The first ever NAP was submitted by Burkina Faso in 2015 and since then ,several countries have submitted their plans. Each NAP contains details about national adaptation planning processes and information on how the process will continue, leading to increased actions. These plans are crucial for building resilience to climate change and reducing vulnerability.
“As of 2024 October, 60 countries have submitted their NAPs. As far as disaster risk reduction strategies are concerned, 131 countries have their DRR strategies in place,” informed Animesh Kumar, Head of UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Germany Office at Bonn. He joined the consultation virtually. Experts stressed on the need for the integration of DRR and NAP.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) plays a critical role in supporting the implementation of NAPs. According to UNFCCC, as of November 2023, 44 developing countries with submitted NAPs had received approval for 83 adaptation projects from the GCF. This translates to a total of USD 18.6 billion, with USD 5.3 billion directly provided by the GCF.
At the two-day consultation, Drall informed that India has already submitted its Adaptation Communication to UNFCCC in December 2023. It contains information on India’s greenhouse gas emissions, its vulnerability to climate change, and the measures it is taking to mitigate emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The energy sector contributed the most to the overall anthropogenic emissions with 75.81 per cent, followed by the agriculture sector with 13.44 per cent, industrial process and product use (IPPU) with 8.41 per cent, and waste with 2.34 per cent.
“While mitigation is important, adaptation is also crucial for India and building resilience is the key. We need about 73 trillion USD for adaptation needs of the country. There is a need to scale up investment plans,” said Drall.
Akhilesh Gupta, advisor and distinguished visiting professor at ICARS, informed that India’s adaptation fund was less than its mitigation fund. “In the last 10 years, the mitigation fund has increased but the adaptation fund is not growing at the same pace. Last year, there was a 43 per cent increase in India’s mitigation fund but adaptation fund grew by only 1.6 per cent,” he said.