Climate Change Local Adaptations Pathways

CLAPs is a joint research initiative co-led by Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) together with University of Exeter and University of East Anglia, in partnership with the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID) and Gram Vikas. The project addresses climate change adaptation across India’s rapidly transforming urban and rural contexts, aiming not only to deepen understanding of existing challenges but also to develop meaningful metrics and support more inclusive, climate-resilient policies and practices.

The core ambition of CLAPs is to collaboratively design interventions and evaluation frameworks that enable effective climate adaptation. To do so, the project studies current local adaptation efforts in Indian cities and fast-changing rural areas, assessing how these initiatives align with prevailing development priorities. This analysis helps identify adaptation pathways that can support climate-resilient development while remaining responsive to migration and social inclusion. Working closely with action partners, CLAPs also distils transferable lessons and produces evaluative tools intended to guide and strengthen climate adaptation policy, grounded in empirical experience from India.

More specifically, the project seeks to: develop a context-sensitive understanding of climate adaptation in India across national, state, and city scales; co-produce metrics and assessment tools that connect adaptation pathways with development goals; collaboratively imagine realistic, place-based adaptation pathways for selected Indian locations; and build the capacity of practitioners, policymakers, and early-career researchers to advance equitable and inclusive forms of climate-resilient development. Find out more about the project on their website.