Social Capital and Local Institutions: A Perspective to Assess Communities Adaptation Potential to Climate Change

Abstract

Communities residing in Himalayan mountain environment are particularly at risk to climate changes externalities owing to their high dependence on natural resources, relatively high contact to severe climatic events, and prevalent economic and infrastructural marginalization. The present article tries to explore the nature of local society-environment interactions, particularly the role of social institutions and social capital in adaptive capacity to possible climate change impacts in Miyar watershed situated in the northeastern part of Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, India. The first part of the article deals with climate change perception among local communities and the following part deals with identification and evaluation of adaptive capacities and prevailing institutional mechanisms.