Most Of India's Heat Action Plans Fail To Identify Vulnerable Groups, Are Underfunded, Says Report On Heat Wave Adaptability

The first critical assessment of heat action plans in India has found that most of the plans fail to identify vulnerable groups, are underfunded, and have weak legal foundations, among other drawbacks

Climate change has increased the frequency of heat waves in India in recent decades. Health and productivity in the country are severely affected by extreme heat waves. ( Image Source :Getty )

India is experiencing unprecedented heat waves in recent years due to climate change. The year 2022 was the fifth warmest for India since 1901. The country's primary policy responses to economically damaging and life-threatening heat waves are called heat action plans. These plans are extremely important to adapt to climate change-induced heat waves. 

However, the first critical assessment of heat action plans in India has found that most of the plans fail to identify vulnerable groups, are underfunded, have weak legal foundations, are insufficiently transparent, and are not built for local contexts. The assessment was performed by the Centre for Policy Research, a non-profit, independent institution dedicated to conducting research that helps address issues impacting life in India. 

Heat action plans are important because they propose a variety of preparatory activities, post-heatwave response measures, and disaster responses across state, district and city government departments to decrease the impact of heat waves. 

The report, titled 'How Is India Adapting To Heatwaves? An Assessment Of Heat Action Plans With Insights For Transformative Climate Action' assessed 37 heat action plans across 18 states in order to understand how well-prepared India is to deal with heat waves. 

Most heat action plans are not built for local context

The report said that most heat action plans have an oversimplified view of hazards. This means that the heat action plans are generally focused on dry extreme heat, with only 10 plans establishing locally-defined temperature thresholds. This means that these plans have defined temperature thresholds for the locations they cover. 

However, it is unclear whether these plans have taken into account local risk multipliers such as humidity, hot nights and the duration of continuous heat in order to declare a heatwave. 

The heat action plans have not evenly considered hot nights, heat waves coming earlier, and subsequent impacts. 

Moreover, the current heat action plans are not integrated with climate projections, which could help identify future planning needs.

The report has recommended the incorporation of climate projections, and localisation of the heat hazard definition.

Most heat action plans do not identify and target vulnerable groups

According to the report, only two of the 37 heat action plans assessed explicitly present findings on vulnerability. Since the other heat action plans fail to identify vulnerable groups, implementers do not have adequate data on where to direct their scarce resources. This could lead to poor targeting. 

Most of the heat action plans identify broad categories of vulnerable groups, but the solutions proposed do not necessarily focus on those groups. 

The report has recommended that heat action plan designers must incorporate vulnerability assessments and shift to more holistic risk assessments where possible. 

Most heat action plans are underfunded

According to the report, only 11 of the 37 heat action plans assessed discuss funding sources. Of these 11 heat action plans, eight asked implementing departments to self-allocate resources. This indicates a serious funding constraint. 

The report has proposed that heat action plan designers must devise the plans in a way such that they reap the maximum benefits from existing state and central schemes. The report has also called for more clarity on funding mechanisms through different ways. These include linking heat action plans to national climate funding mechanisms and exploring adding heat waves to the list of notified disasters to obtain funds for disaster preparedness. 

Heat action plans have weak legal foundations

The report said that none of the heat action plans indicate the legal sources of their authority, which reduces bureaucratic incentives to comply with heat action plan instructions. The implementation agencies which are understaffed and over-burdened, and are simultaneously implementing several other long-term plans face problems due to the lack of legal foundations.

Since the heat action plans have weak legal foundations, the accountability of implementing agencies is reduced. Therefore, the report has called for more explicit linkages with the legal structure to ensure better disaster management and governance of the environment.

Heat action plans are insufficiently transparent

The report said that there is no national repository of heat action plans, very few plans are listed online, and it is unclear whether the plans are being updated periodically and whether they are based on evaluation data. 

The report has recommended creating a national repository of heat action plans housed in the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and conducting publicly accessible external evaluations of the plans' performance. 

Heat action plans emphasise less on local heat research ecosystem

The report said that India's heat action plans emphasise less on the capacity of government departments, civil society, and the local heat research ecosystem. Hence, the report has suggested that heat action plans should increase investment in the capacity of these sectors. 

According to the report, only five per cent of the heat action plans analysed exhibit explicit vulnerability assessments, 30 per cent of the plans discuss funding mechanisms, and 41 per cent establish processes for periodic review. 

Why it is important to address India's adaptability to extreme heat

Climate change has increased the frequency of heat waves in India in recent decades. The years 1998, 2002, 2010, 2015, and 2022 witnessed large death tolls due to extreme heat. 

Health and productivity in the country are severely affected by extreme heat waves. Moreover, water availability, agriculture and energy systems are affected, and labour productivity is reduced, resulting in extensive economic damage. 

The report said that long-term transformational actions such as climate-sensitive urban planning and changing crop patterns can significantly reduce heat exposure, and ease the implementation of heat action plans.