Southasiadisasters.net, Issue No. 220 | May 2025

As climate change intensifies, South Asian cities are facing a growing crisis: extreme urban heat. The latest issue of Southasiadisasters.net, titled “Urgency of Urban Heat Adaptation”, brings together cutting-edge research, field insights, and policy innovations from across the region to address this challenge. From nature-based solutions and cool roofing to heat action plans and early warning systems, this collection highlights practical, scalable, and inclusive strategies to protect vulnerable communities and build heat-resilient cities.

Drawing on contributions from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and beyond, the issue explores how governments, communities, and institutions are responding to heat risks through sustainable urban design, data-driven planning, gender-sensitive frameworks, and investment in climate-resilient infrastructure. With record-breaking temperatures becoming the new normal, this issue calls for urgent and coordinated action to reimagine how we live, work, and plan in an increasingly hot urban world.

In This Issue:

1. Passive Cooling for Extreme Heat Adaptation and Mitigation

    Minni Shastry, UNEP, India

2. Urban Heat Islands: Strategies for Mitigating the Effects in India

    Mihir R. Bhatt, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), India

3, शहरी तप्त द्वीप: भारत में प्रभावों को कम करने की रणनीतियां

4. UNDRR Agenda for Cool Cities

    Sanjaya Bhatia, Head of Office Incheon, UNDRR, Republic of Korea

5. What Can Indian Cities Learn from Action in 2025 from a New Study on Residential Heat and Energy Burdens in Miami?

    Vishal Pathak, AIDMI, India

6. Strengthening Community Resilience: A Heatwave Early Warning and Early Action System for Nepal Amidst Urban Heat Islands

    Dharam Raj Uprety, Thematic Lead: Climate and Resilience, Practical Action, Nepal

7. Urban Heat Adaptation: Areas for Investments and Funding

    Owen Gow, Deputy Director, Extreme Heat Initiative, Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center, Washington, DC

8. Urban Heat Adaptation in Bangladesh

    Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Senior Environmental & Social Safeguard Specialist, Dhaka, Bangladesh

9. Leveraging Historical Disaster Data to Enhance Anticipatory Action and Crisis Responses on Extreme Heat in India

    Akash Yadav, AIDMI, India

10. Urban Heat Adaptation: Agenda for Action in India

      Nipra Ajamani and Dr. Prasoon Singh, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India

11. Urban Heat Island: Strategies for Mitigating the Effects in India

     Aniket Sawargaonkar, M.Sc., Disaster Management, TISS, India

12. The Urgent Need for Urban Heat Adaptation in India

      Shyamji, Master’s in Disaster Management, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

13. Urgently Integrating GESI Methodology into India’s Urban Heat Action Plans

      AIDMI Team, India

14. Heatwave in Mali: Impact on Elderly Mortality in Bamako

      Dr. Hippolyte Traoré, Public Health Researcher, National Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Mali

15. Heatwave Action Plan – Adaptation and Mitigation

      Dr. Shashi Ram, Former Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Telangana, India

16. Urgency of Urban Heat Adaptation in South Asia: Lessons from Bangladesh

      Michael Slingsby, Urban Poverty and Climate Change Adviser, South and South East Asia