This paper argues that climate change adaptation policies often fail to gain priority status both nationally and locally. While the most severe impacts of climate change are being felt through major disasters, less dramatic events go unnoticed wreaking havoc on local livelihoods. The paper discusses examples from the disaster-prone arid zones of Barmer (western Rajasthan) and Leh (Jammu and Kashmir) in India, where climate change is exacerbating local vulnerability to disasters – both large and small. It presents results of research conducted aiming to determine how best to overcome the challenges of integrating effective DRR and climate adaptation into development planning.