By Dr. Jennifer Doherty, ALNAP, UK

The 2024 has been a record breaking year for high monthly temperatures with countries across the globe experiencing deadly heatwaves. The effects of continued climate change are predicted to exacerbate these patterns.[1] This important new special issue underscores the need to pay attention to the significant and growing threats posed by extreme heat. The interesting range of articles, drawn from across South Asia and beyond, calls for continued evaluation of interventions tackling extreme heat so that lessons can be learned to improve planning and response.

The need to plan effectively for the risks posed by extreme heat is a clear theme across articles. A key piece of the planning puzzle is identifying when risks can be expected: Spandan Pandya’s article asks how we identify when heat is likely to cause a risk and require action. The article advocates for considerations of temperature interaction with humidity by using ‘wet bulb’ measures to identify risks to people of extreme heat rather than raw Celsius numbers. Articles by Ankit Rathod focus on the processes needed to better incorporate the risks of extreme heat or climate change into the planning cycle, from risk assessments to response plans, to the important step of ensuring the financing is in place to act on those plans.

The article by Rohit Magotra and Ananya Bhatia also focuses on forward planning by using heat action plans for cities as a key example that could reduce the death toll of future extreme heat events. Their contribution particularly underscores the importance of contextualisation when designing plans, considering requirements of vulnerable people down to the ward level in India. While contextualisation is an important facet of designing interventions, Pasqualino Tomassi’s article is a useful reminder that inspiration for what might work can be found in different locations. The article discusses the potential of learning lessons from the creation of green spaces in European cities and opportunities to extrapolate and adapt such approaches in different global regions.

A clear message in this issue is the need to listen to the voices of people most affected by the risks of extreme heat to make plans and policies grounded in people’s needs and capacities. Kshitij Gupta draws on the experience of informal sector workers and considers how that could inform heatwave risk mitigation plans, labour policies, and urban planning in India. Amali Tower’s article highlights the experiences of another group: migrants, displaced people, and refugees around the world. The article calls for governments and service providers to consider the risks of extreme heat as people move across boundaries.

In addition to highlighting the experiences and requirements of different groups: the article by Mihir R. Bhatt speaks to how we should evaluate all extreme heat projects by focusing on inclusion. Ritwika Chatopadyay outlines ideas that workers at risk of physical strain and financial losses had for mitigating the effects of extreme heat on small businesses in India. Similarly, while considering the link between heat and public health for agricultural workers in Bangladesh, Shibu Prosad Baidya highlighted the importance of community-based solutions and their potential connections with policy-level structures. Vishal Pathak reveals the critical role of crop insurance in safeguarding small-scale farmers from the devastating impacts of climate change.

Beyond the message of local voices, experiences and ideas, this special issue also picks up on the role of international mechanisms to support local solutions.  Teo Ormond-Skeaping outlines recent international commitments made on climate change-induced loss and damage. The article discusses opportunities for effectively operationalising them in relation to extreme heat events and the need to maintain momentum on those agreements to see their impact in affected contexts.

Together the articles in this special issue provide useful breadth on some of the approaches being used to adapt and anticipate the effects of extreme heat in different locations and for varied populations – with potential solutions being identified from community to international levels. Across this diversity of content sits a strong call to evaluate what is working, where and why, and how lessons can be shared and contextualised across contexts to improve practical outcomes for people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the growing risk of extreme heat.

[1] https://www.chathamhouse.org/2024/08/heatwaves-extreme-heat-and-climate-change

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of AIDMI.