Mountains are considered as the early indicators of climate change. The study aims to understand how the Himalayan communities perceive climate change, and how this change has impacted the livelihood and sus-tenance of local people particularly in the remote and rural areas of the region. In view of this, 994 house-holds of 25 villages were interviewed from five basins (five villages per basin) of the Indian Himalayan Region. Their perceptions mainly of climate change were validated/compared with the available climatic indices. People perceived rainfall pattern to be less predictable, greater change in land-use pattern, adverse impacts on forests and human health and overall reduction in their harvests. Seasonal increase in temperature was also reported. Capacity-building programmes for the inhabitants, including the most vulnerable communities in the wake of climate change would be significantly fruitful by way of mitigation and adaptation strategies.