Moving forward on climate change planning - Lessons from Orissa

This policy brief describes the development of the Orissa Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), the first comprehensive state-level climate plan in India. It details the rapid six-month process used to create the blueprint, the tools employed—specifically Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)—and the lessons learned regarding political leadership, stakeholder engagement, and the management of information gaps in climate planning.

• Orissa is the first Indian state to develop a comprehensive state climate change action plan (CCAP), which serves as a five-year blueprint to reduce climate change risk. The plan identifies 287 validated priorities across 11 sectors, with 136 actions focused on adaptation, 123 on mitigation, and 28 covering both. Approximately 80% of the total budget is allocated to energy, forestry, agriculture, and coastal disasters.
• The CCAP was developed in six months using a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to initiate a rapid assessment. The process involved 11 sectoral working groups, five sub-regional stakeholder consultations involving approximately 500 people, and a High Level Coordination Committee led by the Chief Secretary. The draft plan projected a budget of Rs 17000 crore (approximately £2.4 billion) over five years for policy reform, knowledge building, mitigation, and adaptation.
• A central component of the implementation strategy is the establishment of a new Orissa Climate Change Agency in the first year. This agency is intended to act as a single-window contact for external funders and the Government of India, providing coordination, supervision, advice, and information across different sectoral departments.
• The Orissa experience demonstrates that climate planning can begin and progress even in the absence of detailed climate projections or vulnerability assessments. While the document notes that information gaps must be filled and technical knowledge increased, these gaps did not prevent the state from planning and prioritising actions.
• The success of the CCAP process was attributed to strong political engagement and high-level administrative leadership, specifically the Secretary of Environment and Forests. The plan's effectiveness is further linked to its integration into the state's formal annual budgetary and planning processes.
• Orissa faces significant climate vulnerabilities, including recurring cyclones, floods, and droughts, exemplified by a super-cyclone in 1999. Simultaneously, the state is pursuing aggressive industrialisation and coal-fired energy expansion, which threatens its environment, particularly its forests which cover 38% of the land area.

APA

Hedger, M., & Sharma, V. (2010). Moving forward on climate change planning - Lessons from Orissa. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN-orissa-DIGI-MASTER1.pdf

Chicago

Hedger, Merylyn, and Virinder Sharma. Moving forward on climate change planning - Lessons from Orissa. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2010. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN-orissa-DIGI-MASTER1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hedger |first1=Merylyn |last2=Sharma |first2=Virinder |title=Moving forward on climate change planning - Lessons from Orissa |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=November 2010 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN-orissa-DIGI-MASTER1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hedger2010moving, author = {Hedger, Merylyn and Sharma, Virinder}, title = {{Moving forward on climate change planning - Lessons from Orissa}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2010}, month = nov, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN-orissa-DIGI-MASTER1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }