Climate change is a global phenomenon that poses a significant threat to pastoral communities' traditional livelihoods worldwide. The Bakarwal scheduled tribe; a pastoralist community in Jammu and Kashmir, India are not immune to these threats. The recurrence of extreme weather events, changing rainfall patterns, and gradual environmental degradation endanger their pastoral practices, increasing their vulnerability to loss and damage. This paper proposes a framework for addressing the impacts of climate change on pastoralist communities through Loss and Damage (L&D) measures, which aim to provide support for the impacts of climate change that cannot be mitigated or adapted to. The framework involves four key steps: (1) assessing climate risk, (2) identifying vulnerable communities, (3) identifying L&D measures, and (4) implementing these measures through multi-stage approaches. The study used a mixed-methods approach, to assess climate risk and identify L&D measures. The results show that Bakarwals are experiencing significant loss and damage due to climate change, including loss of livestock and deteriorating pastoral livelihoods. The study underscores the importance of taking a proactive approach to climate change adaptation. It provides context-specific recommendations for policymakers and practitioners for climate change adaptation. This research contributes to the literature by providing a roadmap for identifying and addressing the vulnerability of pastoralist communities to climate change impacts, thereby enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of pastoral communities.
