The project will address knowledge gaps between community management of natural resources, local adaptation innovations and national policy debates over climate change and conflicts related to natural resource access. The Ganges-Brahmaputra basin hosts over 500 million people highly vulnerable to climatic changes, particularly in Bangladesh floodplains and Nepal uplands, but the findings will be more widely applicable. This research will generate evidence from multiple levels. Extensive data on a wide range of community management groups will be collected. Intensive quantiative baseline and impact surveys will cover community organisations and control sites representing key climate stressed environments and types of natural resource conflict. This will be complemented in a sub-set of locations by in depth qualitative case studies,and assessments of policies and their implications. The approach blends participatory action research and testing adaptive learning methods, with a formal research design including control sites and surveys to generate robust evidence. It will assess the potential and challenges of community led adapative learning innovations in fostering suitable institutional arrangements and stakeholder cooperation in situations of climate stressed resource management and conflicts. Adaptive learning among networks of community organisations comprises the action part of the research. The project will support testing and documenting innovative adaptation practices, pro-poor local governance, and community-policy stakeholder linkages. Linkages of community networks and individual CBOs with meso-level processes will be a crucial component, because this level is well positioned to steer conflict management and responses to climate induced shocks and stresses. In addition the meso-level can help develop economies of scale, translate national policies into practice, and bridge communities with higher level policy spheres. Relevant policies will be reviewed and analysed to understand vertical linkages or disjuncture among households, communities, local government and national policy processes. This is particularly critical as national policy reform and adaptation debates in Bangladesh and Nepal are hardly informed by community adaptation practices. Donors including DFID are making large investments for climate change adaptation and local adaptation planning (LAPA). As an action research project engaging with local communities, government, and donors, the study will generate knowledge and understanding to inform them and build capacity. Policy dialogue informed by scientific evidence and local knowledge will be facilitated through the community networks complemented by capacity building, and champions among key stakeholders. The project will share knowledge within the two countries, between community networks and policy makers, and with wider regional and international audiences.