Locally led actions to combat the impacts of heatwaves

In the past 10 years, ‘83% of all disasters worldwide triggered by natural hazards were caused by extreme weather- and climate-related events, such as floods, storms and heatwaves’. Heatwaves have been one of the biggest killers. Agriculture has been one of the key sectors that has faced the negative impact of these extreme climate events. All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) is a community-based action planning, research, and policy support organisation which exists to minimise the impacts of potential and predicted extreme events on vulnerable populations. AIDMI is committed to bridging the gap between policy, practice and research related to disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation, which has been identified in a number of reviews, including the Indian government’s 2019 National Disaster Management Plan. AIDMI has worked over the years to cover 14 types of disasters in 18 areas in India and 9 other Asian countries. AIDMI links local communities to national and international levels of risk reduction, relief, and long-term recovery programmes and policies to build resilience as envisioned in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Based on this experience, AIDMI believes that disaster management programmes and operations need to increasingly take climate into account and involve women, youth and indigenous communities. This article outlines two programmes in which we are trying to work towards inclusive disaster risk management that addresses the climate threat.

Humanitarian actions with small farmers

Agriculture contributes to the Indian economy’s overall growth and reduces poverty by providing employment and food security for most of the country’s population; thus, it is the most inclusive growth sector of the economy. ‘Agriculture is the main livelihood for 43% of India’s population, and accounted for 18.8% of the country’s GDP in 2020–21.’ The majority, around 85% of farm households, are small or marginal farmers, with under two hectares of land each. However, this vital sector is extremely vulnerable to climate impacts. Over 80% of Indian citizens are at risk of climate-related disasters. Floods, heatwaves, changing rainfall patterns, declining groundwater levels, retreating glaciers, intense cyclones, and sea- level rise create challenging situations for livelihoods, food security, and the economy. Small farmers and women farmers are particularly vulnerable to extreme climate events.

AIDMI provides relief support to small farmers affected by climate hazards. In response to floods in Punjab and Gujarat, for example, the organisation supported 2,150 farmers, using a rapid consultative process to determine assistance needs.

Interventions that help crisis-affected populations meet their basic needs after a disaster are crucial – but they are not enough. AIDMI also works to strengthen local disaster response capacity and increase community resilience to shocks. Promoting adaptation to climate change, which is suitable for small farmers, is essential. This is highly important for farmers who live with the threat of overlapping climate hazards. For example, in 2021, farmers in Gujarat faced loss and damage due to Cyclone Tauktae, a heatwave, and unseasonal rain in some rural areas.

Women farmers comprise a substantial proportion of farmers globally, making them crucial to any locally led adaptation. Yet, they are often excluded from adaptation planning. AIDMI, with small landholder women farmers in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, is working to put women’s voices at the centre of climate adaptation.

We have adopted several practices to protect our farms from climate change and extreme events. I, along with other women farmers, am promoting such practices. For instance, we have started using solar panels and biogas for our energy needs. Similarly, we have planted trees around our farms, applied water-saving techniques, and improved cooler roofs for our cattle.

– Ms Kalpana Dudule, farmer and local trainer

AIDMI applies an appreciative inquiry approach to facilitate the engagement of women farmers and stakeholders (e.g. agricultural cooperatives, self-help groups, local leaders). It is a reflective process in which groups of farmers consider what is working in the adaptation practices that they are already putting in place, and what is required to promote and strengthen them. Because the discussions focus on what is already working, we have seen that they can be very effective and energetic, facilitating learning across different geographical sites and how it translates into action. These processes have resulted in promoting and strengthening practices such as the use of suitable seeds, innovative water-management techniques, an improved crop selection process to deal with climate uncertainty, and the utilisation of data and better negotiation with market stakeholders. As a result of the inclusion of women farmers, we have observed a stronger connection between farming and animal husbandry, which many women engage in. For example, the high usage of chemical fertilisers was common in the targeted areas, which, through the engagement of women farmers and appreciative inquiry processes, gave way to more balanced usage with natural fertilisers prepared at home.

The appreciative inquiry process also creates opportunities to engage in capacity-building and climate change education. This capacity-building occurs through direct training sessions, focus group discussions, and the production of awareness materials with high visual elements and in local languages. AIDMI found a consultative process very valuable during the creation of capacity-building materials. It provides useful input and feedback in pictorials, connects with local words and culture, and increases their chances of usage. Discussions on climate change relate to the local context and are linked with the agriculture sector. They generally cover three areas: why climate change is happening and the personal experience of climate change; the impacts on family, work and society; and what we are doing and can do. This education is very much a lateral learning process where the facilitator learns about local context, perspectives and cases, and the targeted audience learns about climate change and develops ideas on how to adapt to climate change.

Heatwave risk management and small informal businesses

The Sixth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlights that global climate change has made heatwaves more likely. Heatwaves amplify the impact of drought, increase the likelihood of forest fires, create water insecurity, power shortages and agricultural losses, and cause significant damage to communities. Temperatures have previously hit nearly 50ºC across India and Pakistan, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also sweltered under unusually high heat in 2024. Due to rapid climate change, heatwaves across India and Pakistan were 30 times more likely.

In India, government and non-government actors have increased the response to heatwaves. More than 37 cities now have a Heat Action Plan. To fully implement these plans, and prepare for higher heat, we need to go beyond the health system and engage other groups in society – in education, agriculture and the private sector, among others. While early-warning systems have been developed, it is still important to ensure that different sectors of society engage with and respond to these early warnings.

The impact of heat waves on small and informal businesses is very high in terms of lost incomes and risk to health. AIDMI, with community-based organisations, is designing and implementing adaptation measures to support at-risk informal businesses, including family businesses, women-headed businesses, and businesses that are more exposed to heatwaves. Targeting business makes sense, not only because of the risks to people working in them and depending on them for livelihoods, but also because, in crowded urban areas, they can be a vital and rapid source of assistance to people affected by extreme heat.

Small-scale disasters and extreme climate events, such as cyclones, hailstorms, heatwaves, and erratic rainfall, cause extensive damage in our area. Preparing farmers against these risks is essential. I found the community-to-community learning approach very useful – farmer to farmer and women to women.

– Ms Gokarna Kamble, farmer and community mobiliser

Observations and discussions – individually, in groups, separately with women and men with informal businesses – provide useful guidance for the needs and design of the interventions. Small business owners identified a number of important actions to decrease the risk of heatwaves to themselves and their customers. These included cooling interventions such as the establishment of cool surfaces, creation of shadows, cool storage for goods such as fruits and vegetables and also water, shifting from mains electricity to solar energy (to reduce the electricity expense as the consumption is high in summer months), whitewashing terrace roofs, and creation of air ventilation. Sometimes, it is challenging to convince informal businesses to focus on heatwave protection measures because of their poor economic status. Low business in the summer season also creates financial pressure on the family. In such cases, the aforementioned actions also provided livelihoods material support.

Heatwave deaths are avoidable. And they must be avoided. By taking a whole-of-society approach, and working with a range of different stakeholders to introduce small but meaningful changes and simple coping mechanisms, we can save lives. This is AIDMI’s conclusion from its decade-long work on planning and implementing heatwave mitigation measures in India, and South Asia more broadly.

Mihir R. Bhatt is Director of the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI).

Vishal Pathak is a consultant with AIDMI.