HP State Knowledge Cell on Climate Change (HPKCCC) under National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) has been setup in the Department of Environment, Science & Technology, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh after the approval of The Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India. Total budget sanctioned for HPKCCC is ~ Rs. 2.74 Crores.

Through this cell the GoHP intends to place a sound coordination mechanism for ensuring cooperative and cohesive actions on climate change under active coordination with Department of Science Technology (DST), Government of India. The National Mission for NMSHE Climate Change knowledge cell would be an activity based setup which will function with following approach:

• Data Generation, information, Policy directive formulation, Vulnerability Assessments, participatory resource management strategies and development of livelihood options.
• Deploying Technologies for hazard mitigation & disaster management, development of ideal human habitats, and agriculture and forest sector innovations.
• Awareness, Capacity Building, developing human resource, emphasis on skill development, enable communities become sufficiently empowered with know-how and mountain specific required skills, necessary for adaptation to climate change.
• Active Community Participation for enhancing ecological sustainability by involving community in investigating causes and consequences of disturbance regimes, promoting conservation of native and endemic elements, and understanding glacier and river system dynamics.

Through this cell the data base on climate change shall be generated and the knowledge gaps shall be filled up. The setting up of a knowledge centre shall build a vibrant and dynamic knowledge system in line with the objectives of National Missions with primary focus to collection, collation and dissemination of climate change knowledge in the State through building human and knowledge capacities, institutional capacities, evidence based policy implementation capacities, continuous learning and pro-active designing of development strategies capacities, regional network of knowledge institutions engaged in research on Himalayan Ecosystem. The Department of Environment aims to develop a coherent database on the geological, hydrological, biological and social cultural dimensions including traditional knowledge system on preservation and conservation of the ecosystem and also to generate a strong database through monitoring and analysis, to eventually create a knowledge base for policy interventions on climate change.