Cross-Scale Institutional Linkages in Climate Change Responses: An Indian Perspective

Abstract

India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and its constituent eight National Missions stress on devising plans for climate change action at regional and local scales; these cater to various agro-ecological environments and address the different socio-economic situations prevalent in these. These as well as the various State Action Plans on climate change envisage active involvement of local institutions such as Panchayati Raj Institutions, Water Users’ Associations, JFM/ CFM/ FRA Committees, Van Panchayats, Village Councils, and Urban Local Bodies. The importance of sub-national and local activities is stressed in Sect. 15.2.1.3 of IPCC AR 5. At the other end of the spectrum are the various high-powered committees headed in many instances by central and state ministers and advisory committees comprised of senior bureaucrats and from the scientific establishment. As India moves ahead in implementing the NAPCC and its component mission activities, it is likely to face a number of challenges relating to how issues of institutional linkages are handled. Our study based on critical review of the literature, assessment of case studies, and field research analyzes promising institutional designs that could facilitate cross-scale and horizontal linkages, focusing on the idea of polycentric governance system as a possible solution. Effects of higher institutions on local institutions are identified; in the process, instances of multilevel processes in the governance of climate change issues are studied, where the boundaries and divisions between local, national and global scales and between state and non-state actors have been blurred and disrupted. The need to redefine the scale and scope of state action going from a single to multiple modes of governing that reinforce and negate each other is pointed out. The chapter will outline policy suggestions for enhancing state and institutional capabilities to deal with climate change impacts and identifying new research needs.