Deputy Director General (Education) of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education Omkar Singh said, “Climate change is a major challenge for developing countries like India which face large climate variability and are thus exposed to enhanced risks.” He was speaking at the inaugural session of a training programme for women scientists on climate change and carbon mitigation at Forest Research Institute. Singh said India is a mega-biodiversity country and the 10th largest forested country in the world. With nearly 2 lakh villages classified as forest fringe villages, there is evidently a large dependence of communities on forest resources. DDG (Research) ICFRE Sandeep Tripathi informed that the council is engaged in capacity building programmes for officers of Indian Forest Service and scientists and technologists in the public sector. Research officer at the ICFRE climate change division RS Rawat said the five-day training is being attended by about 27 women scientists. Dr AK Gupta of National Institute for Disaster Management and VRS Rawat spoke. Dr Anita Srivastava conducted the inaugural session.