Embassy of Switzerland

Swiss Interventions in the Himalayas

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been a partner of India for more than 60 years. Since 2011, SDC's engagement focuses specifically on climate change adaptation and mitigation, and related environmental challenges. The projects implemented in India is part of SDC's Global Programme Climate Change and Environment (GPCCE). SDC is working across the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, National Disaster Management Authority, NITI Aayog, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Jal Shakti, State Government Nodal Agencies, National and International partners. SDCs work complements an increased focus of the Government of India on sustainable development of the Himalayan region with Swiss-Indian expertise for climate change action through development and validation of scalable approaches combined with capacity building, documentation for institutionalization, diseminartion and policy dialogue.

Technical Assistance for

Innovative Actions
Develop and test innovative solutions to address the causes and effects of climate change.
Policy Development
Contribute with evidence-based and practical experiences to policy processes at the local, national and global level.
Knowledge Management
Generate and disseminate scientific and applied research based knowledge for capacity building and awareness.

Approaches and Tools

Swiss Intervention aim to generate the evidence to strengthen climate resilience of mountain communities. This is done through integrated science-based participatory pilots in the field, capacity building, documentation and dissemination for the institutionalization. The development, testing and shaping of multiple tools for planning and decision making are important milestones in this process.