With an unprecedented El Niño strengthening across the Pacific and raising the risk of another severe heat season across South Asia, the four South Asian neighbours, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan will work together to meet its impacts.
A media release issued by the Global Heat Forum said the four neighbours will step up and strengthen regional cooperation to identify gaps in health surveillance, funding and local preparedness as extreme heat emerges as a growing public health challenge across South Asia.
The regional coalition launched in October 2026 will work in close cooperation with the Global Heat Forum. The four new country assessments identifying gaps in heat preparedness have also been released. The new assessments caution that heat action plans and weather alerts must translate into effective protection on the ground, particularly for outdoor workers, vulnerable communities and people with limited access to healthcare and cooling.
The media release said as heat risk intensifies across South Asia, the assessments mark a shift from fragmented, country-by-country responses towards a shared regional evidence base. The Hub will begin building a regional network of institutions and training programmes and will turn these assessments into pre- and post-heat-season briefings for governments across the four countries, to build the capacity to turn heat science into coordinated action for the region's most vulnerable communities.
In India a district-level study shows that 57% of districts, home to nearly three-quarters of the population, already face high to very high heat risk. India has moved from reactive relief towards proactive risk reduction. Over 250 city and district heat action plans are in place, and heatwaves are now recognised as a notified natural disaster under India’s disaster risk management funding.
In Nepal, which was previously prone only to hydrometeorological hazards such as floods and droughts, is now also facing the risks of extreme heat. The southern Terai plains recorded 50 days above 40°C in 2024, according to the national meteorological department. In response, Nepal has issued its first federal heat plan and runs tiered heat alerts, but the health system does not yet systematically capture heat-related illness data.
In Bangladesh, feels-like temperatures, which are a combination of temperature and humidity, have risen by around 4.5°C since 1980 and close to a third of the year now brings dangerous humid heat. Bangladesh has recognised heat in its national adaptation plan, produced its first city heat action plan, and launched a national guideline on heat-related illness.
In Bhutan, warming in the southern lowlands is pushing once-cool valleys into higher temperatures, exposing populations that have never had to plan for extreme heat. National mandates already assign heat responsibilities to the health ministry, a 2022 regulation requires heat protections for workers, and Bhutan's well-developed flood and glacial-lake early-warning systems give it a strong base to extend to heat.