Climate change affects the natural resource base and poses enormous difficulty for the natural resource-dependent indigenous population of the cold desert region in the high altitude Himalayas. The interplay of climatic and eco-hydrological processes on these fragile ecosystem coupled with increasing anthropogenic pressure, are leading to increasing stress on indigenous agro-pastoral communities and their livelihoods. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the outcomes of a study carried out in the Trans and Western Indian Himalayas to quantify the level of environmental threat and adaptive capacity.
