Climate Adaptive Action plans to manage Heat Stress in Indian cities Â
The inter-disciplinary research aims to study the extreme heat events/ heat wave events and improving the management of heat stress risks in India by developing spatially differentiated and gender sensitive Heat Stress Action Plans (HSAPs) for Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Rajkot. HSAPs developed through the initiative will serve to support India’s medium term development planning especially in prioritizing and integrating adaptive resilience within the agenda of climate resilient smart cities.
The objective of the project is to spatially identify the vulnerability of populations and heat hot spots, and map the impacts of extreme heat events on the health, work productivity and livelihoods of vulnerable population, and recommending appropriate, innovative and affordable climate adaptation measures for improving health and livelihood resilience for the urban population, with consideration of the associated cost effectiveness as well as gender-based implications.
As a part of the project, climatological variations in summer months (March, April, May and June) in the three cities has been analysed using the parameters- Maximum Temperature (Tmax), Minimum Temperature (Tmin) and Relative Humidity. Land Surface Temperature (LST) maps and the ambient air temperature measured and analysed to developThermal Hotspot maps for the three cities, along with Identification of Ward- level vulnerabilityusing the comprehensive index, comprising of nine sectors – Sanitation, Water, Electricity, Health, Transportation, Housing, Cooking, Awareness and Heat symptoms.
Heat Stress Advisory for New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC)has been prepared in collaboration with the medical services department of New Delhi Municipal Corporation and distributed among Medical Services Department of NDMC for further dissemination along with measures inscribed on prescription slips of NDMC hospitals. IRADe with active collaboration with Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has actively implemented the Heat Stress Action Plan (HSAP) in the city, with display of Hoardings at public places, LED Screen displays, distribution of Posters and Pamphlets in local languages and issuing early warnings across the city.
The project is being carried out along with the consortium members including; Rajkot Municipal Corporations, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Indian Institute of Public Health (Gandhinagar), Indian Institute of Public Health (Bhubaneswar), Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and Odisha State Disaster Management Agency.
Supported by:Â International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
- Heat Wave Action Plan-Delhi
- Heat Wave Action Plan- Bhubane
- Heat Wave Action Plan- Rajkot City
- Heat Stress Compendium – Heat Wave Incidences and Action
- Impact of Heat Stress on Informal Sector Women Workers
- Medical Stakeholders Training Module
- Review of Heat Action Plans
- Vulnerability Assessment of Households in Delhi to Heat Stress
- Vulnerability Assessment of Households in Rajkot to Heat Stress Initiatives
- Vulnerability Assessment of Households in Bhubaneswar to Heat Stress
- Developing Disaster Resilience Action plan through GIS and prioritizing actions for Natural Disaster Risk Reduction in Urban Agglomerations of Shillong & Gangtok.- National Mission of Himalayan Studies, MoEFCC