Workshop Accelerates Heat Preparedness Action in India

Co-authored by Abhiyant Tiwari and Dr. Ritika Kapoor of NRDC India

With 2023 confirmed as the hottest year documented in global temperature records since 1850, the life-threatening risks of extreme heat are becoming ever more obvious around the globe.  Last year was the second warmest year in India since 1901, in part due to the onset of El-Niño, which is linked to higher atmospheric temperatures and reduced rainfall over the Indian subcontinent. India’s vulnerability to extreme heat is already harming the country’s economy and triggering severe health harms, with the poor bearing the brunt of these effects. The India Meteorological Department’s recent seasonal outlook highlights the likelihood of above-normal minimum and maximum temperatures and a higher burden of heatwave days across most the country for the next three months. 

2024 National Workshop on Heat Preparedness

As the impacts of climate change become more obvious on the ground, India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has led annual discussions on improving preparedness ahead of the most intense phase of the annual heat season. Last month, NDMA convened a two-day National Workshop on Management Interventions and Mitigation Strategies for Heat Wave New Delhi part of series of discussions that enable knowledge exchange amongst the country’s leading experts on heat resilience. The February event also served to advance the work of a technical advisory group recently formed by NDMA to develop national recommendations for improved urban heatwave management. The goal of the February convening was to connect policymakers with stakeholders to identify actionable heat solutions through state- and city-level heat action plans, heatwave early warning systems, and built environment enhancements. Demonstrating the government’s attention to this pressing issue, Shri Kiren Rijiju, Hon’ble Union Minister of Earth Sciences, was the Chief Guest in the inaugural session.

The two-day workshop was organized in six thematic sessions focused on Early Warning and Climate Services, Health Impacts of Heatwaves, Heat Impacts on Infrastructure and Productive Sectors and Mitigation Strategies, Heatwave Management Voices from the Field, Urban Heat Island Impacts on Vulnerable Communities, and Heat Action Plan Strategies. Through these sessions, leading experts offered insights on how to translate best practices for improving heat resilience into concrete actions on the ground. The NDMA event also provided an opportunity for policymakers to hear directly from voices representing particularly heat-vulnerable groups including street vendors, slum dwellers, traffic police, construction workers, and members of the Indian army. Moreover, district collectors from heatwave-prone districts shared their experiences of implementing Heat Action Plans.

Insights on Heat Risks and Policy Opportunities

The workshop included invited presentations from a range of heat experts and government leaders, each highlighting the need for evidence-based approaches that can improve public awareness of heat risks and facilitate stronger municipal- and state-level management of heat as a complex threat:

• In his inaugural address, Minister of Earth Sciences Shri Kiren Rijiju noted that India was experiencing increasing instances of extreme heat events that threaten the health and livelihoods of vulnerable communities across multiple states. He also highlighted the role of climate change in increasing the intensity and frequency of heatwaves in recent years. He appreciated that the workshop was being conducted in February, which could enable local leaders to review and strengthen heatwave preparedness ahead of the 2024 heat season. 
• Shri Kamal Kishore, Member and Head of Department, NDMA spoke to the importance of continuing to improve implementation of Heat Action Plans developed by states, districts, and cities. He also highlighted the need for cross-sectoral action to more effectively manage the direct and indirect consequences of the heat problem.
• Dr. M. Mohapatra, Director General, India Meteorological Department (IMD) highlighted the spatial patterns, climatological drivers, and temporal trends of heat risk profiles and the Hazard Atlas score, a metric that helps policymakers to better identify heat-vulnerable regions. 
• Shri Abhiyant Tiwari, Natural Resources Defense Council, India brought attention to the benefits of using statistical methods to link heatwave early warning system thresholds to specific health benchmarks. He also underscored the need for local governments to be actively involved in policy preparation and the role of NDMA for instructing the states to do so.
• Dr. Dileep Mavalankar, formerly of the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Gandhinagar emphasized the need for improved collection of health data and stronger consideration of changing nighttime temperature profiles in health analyses. Dr. Mavalankar urged cities to develop tailored heat action plans suited for specific geographic contexts.
• Dr. Rajashree Kotharkar, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) Nagpur, spoke about the current lack of integration in Heat-Health Action Plans (HHAPs) and the need to advance both short- and long-term implementation measures in new HHAPs. 
• Shri Siraj Hirani, Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) emphasized the need to understand heat harms through a gender lens and discussed the current installation of a community cooling centre in Jodhpur as part of Jodhpur’s Heat Action Plan. 
• Shri Aditya Valiathan Pillai, Sustainable Futures Collaborative, Delhi highlighted ongoing HAP implementation challenges and related financing issues. He argued that fiscal challenges are surmountable, in part due to the complementary nature of HAP actions with Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

In closing the workshop, Shri Kamal Kishore reiterated the need for “next generation HAPs” that establish clear linkages amongst research and evidence, strategic policy, financing, and implementation. Shri Krishna S. Vats, Member, NDMA presented a Heat Mitigation Framework that can serve as a guide for future HAP strengthening to meet long-term needs. On the mitigation framework, he spoke to the centrality of passive cooling solutions and a vision for uptake of sector-specific interventions (including health, power, urban infrastructure, and public awareness).

Targeting Heat Action Plans to Reach Vulnerable Groups

One of the key messages from the two-day workshop was the urgency of making HAPs more inclusive and robust in meeting the needs of their target audiences. In a recent assessment, about 95% of Indian HAPs analyzed lacked vulnerability assessments that could help authorities to efficiently allocate limited resources. Such assessments typically include consideration of three pillars: heat exposures, population vulnerabilities to heat that elevate risks in certain groups, and adaptive capacity resources that individuals and communities can access to reduce risks. Spatial mapping of how these three factors overlap, for example as developed in Jodhpur’s Heat Action Plan, can illuminate compounding risks and inform HAP interventions at the ward-level, providing communities and policymakers with a clearer picture of the problem and ways to address it.

Strengthening Coordination and Implementation of Heat Responses

NRDC is working with government authorities and local partners to advance improved Heat Action Plans that include vulnerability assessments built upon ward-level data collected by city offices and community groups. In addition to these local efforts, effective HAP implementation also requires local and state governments to actively engage in dialogue with NDMA to identify, refine, and scale up best practices. The discussions facilitated by NDMA’s recent workshop frame the urgent work of the oncoming 2024 heat season within the larger challenge of accelerating action to deliver improved heat protections for vulnerable populations in India over the long term.