Climate change is raising global temperatures and increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves. Heat stress contributes to significant negative health outcomes, particularly for infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, outdoor workers and other vulnerable people.

This policy brief evaluates the current state of the knowledge of and plans to manage urban heat in South Asia. First, the brief examines heat in South Asian cities through the different layers of the urban environment: buildings, communities, and cities.

HAPs are India’s primary policy response to economically damaging and life threatening heatwaves. They prescribe a variety of preparatory activities, disaster responses, and post-heatwave response measures across state, district, and city government departments to decrease the impact of heatwaves.

The climate is how the atmosphere behaves over a long period of time (typically defined as at least a 30-year period). Descriptions of the climate inform us about the average weather, as well as other aspects of weather patterns and distribution of meteorological parameters – including anomalous, rare and extreme events.

This issue of the Southasiadisasters.net titled “Building Adaptation and Resilience to Heat Waves,” presents the timely need for the mainstream implementation of adaptation strategies against extreme heat, especially in the sprawling urban cities of South Asia.

This publication is an independent global assessment of the impacts of human-induced climate change in the 21st century. It presents national level data across 32 distinct impact indicators, mainly through regional analysis, supplemented by select country examples.

India recorded extreme weather events on 242 of the 273 days from January 1 through September 30, 2022, according to this new report by the Centre for Science and Environment.

559 million children are currently exposed to high heatwave frequency, according to this new research from UNICEF. Further, 624 million children are exposed to one of three other high heat measures - high heatwave duration, high heatwave severity or extreme high temperatures.

Greater action is needed now to avert the recurrence of disastrous heatwaves, which are being intensified by the climate crisis, the UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), said in this report.

The Power Outlook Series developed by Vasudha Foundation provides an overview of the current status of India’s power sector with a focus on significant and emerging developments. The outlook series aims to develop a more informed understanding of the power sector and act as a tracking tool for stakeholders.