Tropentag, September 10 - 12, 2025, Bonn "Reconciling land system changes with planetary health"

Decentralised public action for sustainable development: local action plans on climate change in kerala, India

¹Kerala Institute of Local Administration, India
²Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Kerala Institute of Local Administration
³Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Kerala Institute of Local Administration
⁴Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, India
⁵Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, India

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development envisages a plan of action that ensures sustainable resource use and development practices across the world. The state of the environment is an important component for sustainability and the sustainability framework goes hand in hand with the Sendai Framework 2015–2030. It urges humanity “to reduce risk by avoiding decisions that create risk, by reducing existing risk and by building resilience”. Local actions consistent with the overall SDG framework are integral to the achievement of targets at the national level. Local-level actions and networks have been successful in promoting systematic action towards mitigating climate change effects and building adaptive capacity. The Local Action Plan on Climate Change (LAPCC) is one such initiative from the state of Kerala in India. With specific focus on LAPCCs prepared in the Pamba Basin districts of Kerala (Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, and Idukki), the present study examined the role of decentralised public action in ensuring sustainable development in the context of a warming climate. The study observed that 265 Local Self Governments (LSG) in these four districts prepared LAPCCs by integrating climate and risk information for the LSGs (secondary data), traditional knowledge, and local perceptions through participatory planning and action methods to set their local pathways to sustainable development. This included focus group discussions, field visits, and personal interviews with regard to 18 thematic areas that are deemed relevant by the respective LSGs in the context of climate change. LAPCCs document local characteristics of changes in biodiversity, development sectors, climatic changes and disasters. The participatory planning method of integrating secondary information on climate change and risk with local perceptions and experiences resulted in enhancing public support to climate action and disaster mitigation. It contributed to building institutional ownership and accountability for the action plans within the LSGs. The preparation of LAPCCs resulted in 4,644 projects in the annual plans (2022-23) being implemented by these LSGs in order to build resilience, enhance adaptive capacity, and promote mitigation measures against climate change. This also guided the LSGs to adopt various governance initiatives and give more attention to possible regulatory interventions.

Keywords: Decentralised public action, local action plan on climate change, local self governments, participatory planning, sustainable development

Contact Address: Rajkumar Rajan Pillai, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Mulamkunnathukavu po, 680581 Thrissur, India, e-mail: rajkumarkila.ac.in