By Vishal Pathak, AIDMI, India

Assam has been at the forefront of disaster risk reduction in India, may it be making schools safer or making district disaster management plans work. Now, Assam again is leading in protecting its urban and rural citizens from the accelerating extreme heat in 2025.

ASDMA (Assam State Disaster Management Authority), and AIDMI (All India Disaster Mitigation Institute), a leading member of civil society organisations working on extreme heat since 2014, jointly organised the first-ever workshop on “Extreme Heat and Building Climate Resilience in Assam” on March 26, 2025, Guwahati. The technical sessions included understanding extreme heat in Assam and North East Region; Lessons from action plans and cool solutions; extreme heat forecast and early warning; and data-driven cool solutions.

A detailed, urgent but long-term cooling plan for thousands of Assam farmers and city dwellers; hundreds of small businesses, and schools and health facilities were outlined by over 400 participants from the UN, government, universities, and NGOs, including officials from the North East States.

AIDMI has led work on extreme heat in action since 2014, including a recent global review of lessons and IPCC’s SREx (Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation) report.