Asar in collaboration with its local partner, Praajak Development Society, in support from University of North Bengal, is organising a Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on Climate-Resilient and People-Centric Development in the Himalayan and Sub-Himalayan Region of West Bengal. 

Given the constantly emerging climate induced vulnerabilities, the Eastern Himalayan Region and the Terai are at the immense grip of the emerging threats including altered rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, biodiversity loss, and increasing frequency of landslides and flash floods, particularly in the fragile Himalayan ecology. Traditional livelihoods such as tea cultivation, forest-based and agricultural work, and mandarin orange farming are increasingly under stress. Considering such a situation, it becomes important to focus on building a climate-resilience and climate-adaptabile model in this region, as much as it is important to look at the net-zero emissions target. 

This regional consultation is intended to initiate a discourse around climate-adaptive and people-centric alternative economy and livelihood potential for this region. 

This pivotal consultation aims to bring together a diverse set of stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, policymakers and community leaders to engage in meaningful dialogue which will be focused around following key themes

• Localised economic diversification, strengthening sectors like tea, mandarin orange etc while promoting complementary and climate-resilient livelihood opportunities; 
• Community-driven pathways for climate-resilient livelihoods;
• Policies and collaborations that ensure a just, inclusive and ecologically sustainable transition