In this policy brief, Moving forward on climate change planning - lessons from Orissa, Merylyn Hedger and Virinder Sharma look at Orissa, the first Indian state to produce a climate change action plan (CCAP). The CCAP is the blueprint to reduce climate change risk in Orissa for the next five years. This policy brief outlines the process that produced the CCAP in just six months, using a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to kick start the process. The SEA was followed by discussion on potential action by11 working groups drawn mostly from Departments, initial discussions with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and five sub-regional stakeholder consultations. The CCAP was published online in June 2010 to generate comments from a wider group of stakeholders. The implications from the Orissa experience include the need for political engagement and leadership; high level administrative coordination and inter-departmental consultations; broad stakeholder consultation; and integration with regular planning and budgetary processes.

Key messages from the brief:

• Orissa has become the first State in India to produce a Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP).
• Lessons learned from Orissa’s success include the need for political engagement and leadership in the development of a CCAP.
• Broad consultation is important, to include a wide range of stakeholders.
• Information gaps are a problem and must be filled, but need not necessarily prevent planning and prioritisation.