ABSTRACT In the 21st century, agriculture still continues to be a major source of livelihood in larger parts of India as well as South Asia. About 70% of South Asia's poor live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood.1The agriculture in the Thar Desert of Western Rajasthan has undergone dramatic changes over the past few years. This region has always been exposed to erratic rainfall, extreme weather conditions and poor vegetation. But over the past few years, factors like observed climatic variability, advent of technology, and many other human interventions have brought about marked changes in agriculture production. Since, 80% of agriculture in Thar is rainfed2, prolonged monsoons and harsh wind storms are adding to their atrocities, making the community confront multiple financial challenges. Our study of 25 villages in Thar brings out a clear understanding of changing face of agriculture, as an outcome of several factors ranging from climate variability to dying traditional wisdom. Participatory mapping techniques like Resource Mapping, Focused Group Discussions and Audio?Visual documentation were used. The paper also aims to document various adaptation alternatives identified by the communities in against the increasing influence. The results of the study postulates the fact that Agriculture practices in Thar are showing shifting trends, owing to multiple drivers' effect, climate being the pivot for the change. Moreover, desertification being a major concern, is making more and more lands non cultivable. This is compelling the community to shift from traditional farming practices to short term production techniques. With the population growing exponentially, the stresses on the land as resources are increasing, without appropriate natural resource management. The paper proposes Community based adaptation practices to combat the effect of climate change. CONTENTS 1.1 Introduction 18 1.2 Background 18 1.3 Need for Study 20 1.4 Aim 21 1.5 Objectives 21 1.6 Limitations 21 1.7 Research Questions 21 1.8 Methodology 21 Overview 21 Hypothesis/Thesis Argument 23 1 .Climate change and Global Scenario 25 2. India and Climate Change: Understanding Vulnerabilities and Adaptation in the context of Arid and Semi Arid regions of INDIA 26 2.1 Vulnerabilities and Adaptation in Arid and semi Arid regions: A Case of Western Rajasthan 27 2.2 Climate change impacts on THAR Desert of western Rajasthan 28 3. Agriculture, Climate Change and Western Rajasthan. 28 3.1 State overview 32 3.2 Rajasthan at a glance 32 3.3 Climate 32 3.4 Area of Focus: Thar - The Great Indian Desert 35 4.1 Agriculture in Thar 38 4.2 Agro Climatic Zones 38 4.3 Traditional Agriculture Practices of Thar 40 4.4 Sources of Water in Rajasthan 41 4.5 Soils of Rajasthan 41 5.1 Various pressures on Agriculture 43 5.2 Natural Climatic Pressures 43 5.3 Methodology 44 5.4 Temperature 44 5.4.1 Impact of increased temperatures on Agriculture 44 5.5 Wind speeds 45 5.5.1 Impact of increased Wind Speeds on Agriculture 46 5.6.1 Impact of Rainfall Variability on Agriculture 47 5.6.2 Community Perceptions 48 5.7 Droughts 48 5.9 Linkages between various climatic factors 50 6.1 Background 52 6.2 Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana ( I.G.N.P ) 52 6.3 Impacts of Indira Gandhi Canal on Agriculture of Thar 53 6.3.1 Overview 53 6.4 Positive Impacts of Rajasthan Canal 53 6.4.1 Changes in the cropping pattern ( Direct impacts) 53 6.4.2 Other positive impacts (Indirect) 54 6.4.3 Increased water table (Indirect Impacts) 55 6.5 Negative Impacts of the canal 56 6.5.1 Water Logging and Salinity 56 6.6 I.G.N.P as an adaptation to climate variability 57 Hence my argument 58 7.1 Background 60 7.2 Aim 60 7.3 Objectives 60 7.4 Scope 60 7.5 Limitations 60 7.6 Development of parameters and scoring 61 7.6.1 Level 1 parameters 61 7.6.2 Level 2 Parameters 61 7.6.3 Level 3 Parameters 61 7.6.4 Scoring and penalty deductions 62 7.7 Conclusions 63 8.1 Introduction 66 8.2 Vulnerability of Agriculture in the context of climate change 66 8.4 Governments initiatives in mainstreaming agricultural adaptation 67 Overview 67 8.4.1 National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture 67 8.4.2 National Farmers Policy 68 8.5 Adaptation Strategies towards Agriculture in Thar 68 8.6 Adaptation Interventions 69 8.6.1 Natural/Climatic Factors 69 8.6.2 Institutional Factors 70 8.6.3 Financial Factors 71 8.6.4 Social Factors 72 9.1 Findings and Discussions 76 9.1.1 Changes in Cropping Patterns 76 9.1.2 Increased climate variability and its resultant impact 76 9.1.3 Impact of the canal on the farmers 77 9.2 Conclusions 79