IIM Lucknow study shows how farmer organisations drive climate action in Himalayan region

New Delhi: Locally led and agency-driven efforts through farmer- producer organisations have led to a systemic change in climate policy through improved farmer incomes, increased crop yield and farming system resilience in India's Himalayan region, a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow has found.

The findings of the study have been published in the prestigious Journal of Rural Studies.

"We employed a mixed-methods research approach to understand and appreciate localised climate hazards-induced vulnerability of exposure unit in the Himalayan region and tried to capture farmer organisations' governance capabilities to evaluate, prioritise, and execute planned or reflexive and facilitative adaptation actions through climate-smart technologies and practices, employing participatory mapping tool (net-map), semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and coding of recorded respondent interviews," Kushankur Dey, Associate Professor, IIM Lucknow, told PTI.

The study shifts the focus of climate policy discussions away from mainly reactive and fragmented approaches, which are common in many developing regions, toward a more proactive approach to adaptation.

It addresses a relatively underexplored area in climate action (adaptation) research - the governance capability of agency-led adaptation, especially in contexts where local power dynamics may resist or complicate adaptation efforts and outcomes.

To examine whether agency-led governance can generate localised but impactful outcomes, the research team studied climate-vulnerable settings where settlements remain exposed to climate hazards-induced vulnerability despite farm-level adaptation attempts.

They also considered how these localised impacts could contribute to long-term, systemic changes in climate action policy.

Using the Small Wins Governance framework developed by Termeer and Metze (2019), the researchers developed a contingency framework to explain how adaptive capacity can be built gradually through incremental gains known as "small wins".

"With a mixed-methods approach, the study applied this framework to the climate-vulnerable setting of the Himalayan region.

"The findings showed that FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisations), acting collectively on behalf of their members, carried out climate interventions that increased farmers' incomes, strengthened local farming systems and their resilience, improved crop productivity, enhanced collaboration, shared learning, and reflexive monitoring in action to solve 'evaluation paradox' of climate action policy processes," Dey said.

The research team concluded that these "small wins" created enabling mechanisms, where localised successes encouraged wider collective action and horizontal spreading of adaptation actions.

The study explains climate hazard–induced vulnerability and links it to the role and capability of agency governance, offering practical recommendations for climate policymakers, development practitioners, and institutions.