Strengthening capacity for scaling climate-resilient agriculture practices as a Nature-based Solution

About the event

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is organising an exposure visit to Uttarakhand, India, to strengthen capacity for scaling climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) as a Nature-based Solution (NbS). The visit is part of ICIMOD’s Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP) and focuses on promoting agroecology as a nature-based business solution. The visit aims to provide participants with practical insights, institutional learning, policy engagement experience, and pathways for systemic transformation.

Participants will include government officials and partner organisations from across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), fostering cross-border learning, practical knowledge exchange, and regional collaboration on climate-resilient agricultural practices.

Objectives

1. Co-learn and exchange knowledge on organic and climate-resilient agricultural practices.
2. Understand institutional mechanisms and policy processes enabling the adoption of organic farming
3. Explore opportunities for adapting and scaling relevant agroecological innovations in the HKH context

Expected outcomes

• Deeper understanding of policy and institutional frameworks that enable effective implementation of CRA and organic farming at the community level.
• Identification of climate-resilient agricultural technologies and practices that can be scaled to the HKH.
• Strong network established among the provincial governments in Nepal and the Uttarakhand state of India for future coordination and cooperation.

Background

The HKH region is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Agriculture is the backbone of rural economies and the foundation of food and nutritional security. Increasingly erratic rainfall, rising temperatures, and changing seasons are putting severe pressure on mountain farming systems, threatening livelihoods, and deepening food insecurity. While climate change is a global crisis, the most effective responses are rooted in local realities.

The region’s agrarian provinces often face critical gaps in knowledge, evidence, capacity, financing, and institutional mechanisms to design and promote resilience-building practices. Addressing these gaps requires learning from successful, scalable models of CRA that are both economically viable and ecologically sound.

One key focus area of HI-REAP is the wider-scale adoption of NbS and promoting them as key climate solutions. CRA, as an NbS, offers a sustainable, locally adapted, and inclusive approach. Strengthening the capacity of local institutions, government agencies, and stakeholders is key to scaling these resilient solutions.

Why Uttarakhand?

Uttarakhand is a hilly region located in the Northwest part of India. We plan to visit SARG (SUPA Agricultural Research Group), a non-profit organisation promoting organic and biodynamic agriculture systems in India for the past 12 years. SARG is based in Uttarakhand and operates out of Dehradun, Nainital, Akola, and Hoshangabad. It started as a small but quality-based training centre in Manohar Biodynamic Farms in Nainital. SARG has been active in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh.
The organisation has been awarded the prestigious Krishi Bhushan Award (2012) for its contribution in promoting organic farming in the State by the Government of Maharashtra, India. SARG has demonstrated exemplary work in community-based CRA technology adoption and transfer, marketing for local farmers’ produce, including indigenous crops such as millet and Amaranth.

Participants: 20 participants from ICIMOD’s partners and stakeholders from Nepal and Bhutan.

This event is supported by the United Kingdom International Development through the HI-REAP project.