By Bedoshruti Sadhukhan, Associate Director, ICLEI, New Delhi, India

South Asian countries face the double whammy of rapid urbanisation and a changing climate that is forcing its cities to develop in conditions of unprecedented high temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns. The region, which is already in the tropical zone and faces relatively hot humid conditions, are further impacted by the challenge of rising temperatures due to climate change.

According to a World Bank report, the urban population in South Asia is expected to increase by 250 million by the year 2030[1]. While urbanisation can offer socio-economic opportunities for development, it has largely been chaotic and poorly managed in South Asia. Cities typically expand in an unplanned manner at their edges through urban sprawl, leading to the merging of these outer areas into smaller towns known as mofussil towns. Many rural migrants settle in these peripheral regions upon arriving in the cities, choosing low-cost areas primarily due to the lack of basic services. There are reports from different organisations, including ADB[2], World Bank[3] and other agencies[4][5] that show that growing temperatures from a changing climate are adversely impacting the growing urban population, physiologically, socially and economically. According to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, the frequency and intensity of hot extremes will continue to increase with increasing global warming levels, even if the global warming is stabilised at 1.5°C.

Cities in the region often experience record high temperatures, which are exacerbated by high humidity. Rapid urbanisation has increased the prevalence of concrete and other heat-reflecting surfaces, while reducing green spaces. These changes contribute to the urban heat island (UHI) effect, making cities even hotter. This intensifies heat impacts, affecting public health, energy consumption, and overall urban living conditions, making cities ‘less liveable, inclusive and competitive’[6].

In the face of this growing challenge, several cities in South Asia are taking up proactive steps to reduce the impact of extreme heat and plan for early warning and early actions on heat thereby creating inspiring examples. Three such cities – Ahmedabad and Rajkot from India and Narayanganj in Bangladesh are discussed in this article.

The Heat Action Plan for Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India[7]

The Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan (HAP) was first developed in the year 2013, and then updated in 2016 and 2019. The latest HAP serves as a comprehensive guide to mitigating extreme heat impacts in the city. Initiated after the 2010 heatwave that led to 1,344 excess deaths in one month, the plan aims to reduce heat-related mortality and illness. A study[8] in 2018 showed that the plan has been effective – after the implementation of the HAP warnings of extreme heat, there was decreased summertime all-cause mortality rates, with largest declines at highest temperatures.

The HAP (Heat Action Plan) follows a structured implementation strategy divided into three phases: the pre-heat season (January-March), the heat season (March-July), and the post-heat season (July-September). Key strategies include public awareness campaigns, capacity building for healthcare professionals, early warning systems, and inter-agency coordination. The plan also focuses on reducing heat exposure, particularly through the Ahmedabad Cool Roofs Programme, which involves coating rooftops with reflective materials to lower indoor temperatures. The heat alert system is colour-coded (White, Yellow, Orange, Red) to signify escalating levels of heat risk.The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) ensures coordination among government departments, healthcare providers, emergency responders, and community groups making this a structured and effective plan to protect citizens from extreme heat. During the development of the plan, the health department of the AMC communicated with the medical community and research organisations. The Action Plan was created with inputs from different stakeholders, which helped to make the plan inclusive, appropriate and relevant to communities.

Framework for Urban Cooling Plan, Rajkot, Gujarat[9]

Taking cue from its neighbouring city, Rajkot has developed the Urban Cooling Plan with support from UNEP and ICLEI South Asia. This plan aims to mitigate the urban heat island (UHI) effect and enhance thermal comfort for residents. It provides a scientific and strategic framework to address rising temperatures caused by rapid urbanisation and climate change.

The approach focuses on heat profiling at both the city and neighbourhood levels by utilising satellite imagery, environmental sensors, and drone-based thermal mapping. This study analyses the correlation between land surface temperatures, air quality, vegetation index (NDVI), and urban features in order to identify heat hotspots and opportunities for cooling.

The plan identifies key strategies for cooling such as increasing green spaces and tree cover in the city, improving design of buildings with reflective and cool roofs or passive cooling mechanisms and enhancing public awareness. But apart from the hard interventions that have been identified, the cooling plan has also identified gaps in implementation of existing greening policies and urban planning guidelines, which often exacerbate the heat impacts in the city. The plan therefore has recommended implementation of existing policies for better urban planning and greening, and leveraging national and state programmes for financial and technical support to implement the cooling plan.

Developing a Heat Action Plan for Narayanganj City, Bangladesh

The Climate Resilient City Action Plan of Narayanganj in Bangladesh, developed in 2019, recognised heat and rising temperatures as a major climate risk for the city. Based on its recommendation, the city has begun the preparation of it Heat Action Plan (HAP) for Narayanganj City. The plan will address the increasing heat stress caused by climate change, urbanisation, and environmental degradation. It is being developed by Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) with technical support from ICLEI South Asia, and aligns with the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2023-2050 to protect public health, infrastructure, and vulnerable communities.

This plan will follow the City Heat Resilience Toolkit developed under the CKDN programme by TARU and includes three key steps which are understanding the root causes of heat stress, identifying solutions, and prioritising strategies. At the time of writing the article, the action plan was still a work in progress and has ample opportunities to learn from other action plans like that of Ahmedabad and Rajkot.

Way Forward

All the three HAPs presented in this article look at the upcoming heat risks and identify interventions that will help to address heat risks before, during and after an extreme heat event. However, an assessment of the Ahmedabad and Rajkot plans which are already being implemented, have revealed that there are existing options available with cities and local authorities such as urban planning and design guidelines or greening policies that can facilitate the protection of green and blue areas in the city, manage construction in ways that allow for green belts around constructed areas and prevent over-concretisation of the cities that will help to keep the cities cool.

While strategies such as the cool roofs and cooling centres are useful for both renovated buildings and new buildings, community engagement processes are just as important to ensure that people are aware of what they should or should not do to avoid exposure to excessive heat. In addition, the strategies may be useful during an extreme heat event, but equally important is to plan in advance and ensure early warning systems are in place for cities and communities to be able to take suitable action before the heat event strikes.

The rising temperatures in the region warrant the preparation of heat action plans for all growing cities in the region, to be prepared for action if and when an event arises. The existing action plans can provide good learnings for the cities in the region to take action on heat.

[1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/sar/publication/urbanization-south-asia-cities

[2] https://www.adb.org/features/climate-change-south-asia-12-things-know#:~:text=Without%20global%20action%20on%20climate,%25%20by%202100%2C%20on%20average.

[3] https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2023/07/11/cooling-the-heat-can-india-lead-the-world-in-green-cooling-innovation

[4] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-heat-and-health

[5] https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/08/extreme-heat-workers-climate-health/

[6] https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/sustainablecities/combating-heat-in-cities#:~:text=And%20as%20outlined%20in%20the,health%2C%20productivity%2C%20and%20growth.

[7] https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/ahmedabad-heat-action-plan-2018.pdf

[8] Hess JJ, Lm S, Knowlton K, Saha S, Dutta P, Ganguly P, Tiwari A, Jaiswal A, Sheffield P, Sarkar J, Bhan SC, Begda A, Shah T, Solanki B, Mavalankar D. Building Resilience to Climate Change: Pilot Evaluation of the Impact of India’s First Heat Action Plan on All-Cause Mortality. J Environ Public Health. 2018 Nov 1;2018:7973519. doi: 10.1155/2018/7973519. PMID: 30515228; PMCID: PMC6236972.

[9] https://southasia.iclei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Final_Urban-Cooling-Plan-for-Rajkot_04.04.2022.pdf

Photo caption: Solar PV installed as a cool roofing solution for affordable housing in Rajkot. (credit: ICLEI South Asia)

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