THE HIMALAYA-TIBETAN PLATEAU, also known as the Water Tower of Asia, has the highest mountains and glaciers in the world. Meltwater from this huge reserve feeds some of Asia’s major river basins. Changing monsoon patterns, more extreme weather events and continued melting of glaciers have long-term implications for the region’s water, energy and food security. This project utilized the ICLEI/Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) toolkit, referred to as IAP, to assist local governments to assess their climate risks and vulnerabilities, and to make adaptive response plans accordingly. Although specifically designed for cities, the IAP Toolkit was applied to the rural watershed of Ramgad in Uttarakhand, India. Over 40 resilience interventions were developed for vulnerable communities in Ramgad. The results of this work revealed that adaptive capacity and resilience in this rural jurisdiction were much lower compared to those of urban settings. Rural regions typically have less resources available to measure threats, disruptions and impacts compared to their city counterparts. The application of the IAP to this rural enclave has shown that a new paradigm shift is needed for the refinement of decision support tools to measure climate impacts and to build resilience and adaptive capacity in rural Himalaya.