This article was originally published by The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – One of the world’s largest humanitarian networks, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), is urging governments globally to take early action in preparing their communities for the impacts of heat.

The year 2024 was the hottest year on record, and the frequency and intensity of heatwaves are expected to get worse due to climate change, said Dr Luis Rodriguez, lead for climate and environmental crises for the Asia-Pacific at IFRC.

Regions including South-east Asia and parts of China and India are increasingly susceptible to heatwaves, he said, adding that these areas are also heavily populated. About 60 per cent of the global population resides in the Asia-Pacific region.

So, a larger number of people will potentially be affected by heatwaves, said Dr Rodriguez.

Heat can affect people of all ages but workers, such as farmers and those toiling away in construction sites, ports and non-air-conditioned factories, are especially at risk because of long exposure to rising temperatures.

In a 2024 report, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said workers in already hot climates will face ever more dangerous conditions. The ILO said workplace exposure to excessive heat in the Asia-Pacific was above the global average, affecting 74.7 per cent of the workforce.

But heat can also affect communities indirectly by worsening existing health conditions and causing food and water insecurity.

“There is nothing better than early warning and early action because it saves lives and saves livelihoods,” Dr Rodriguez said in the latest episode of The Straits Times’ Green Pulse podcast.

“That’s the reason why action to prepare for and respond to heat is one of our top, most important priorities for IFRC in this region.”

There are varied early responses to a heatwave.

These could include providing mobile cooling stations with air-conditioning or ice baths, supplying safe drinking water and distributing cash grants to vulnerable communities to help them meet basic needs.

“The rationale for providing grants is to compensate for the salary loss for not working during heatwaves,” said Dr Rodriguez.

“We are targeting vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, people with existing medical conditions that might be exacerbated by heat, and exposed groups like outdoor workers.”

The IFRC has a network of 191 Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in different countries and jurisdictions. There are 38 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Dr Rodriguez said that while IFRC societies have had a “long tradition” of responding to emergencies such as floods and droughts, heat is an emerging area for them.

Early action plans for heat were activated in a number of IFRC national societies in 2024, including the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society in April.

“So we are trying to build capacity within our national societies to respond to heat, and also working with other agencies in a more coordinated manner,” Dr Rodriguez added.

He said that during a heatwave, many different sectors and people are affected, which is why coordination is needed.

Schools may be closed, so there is a need to coordinate with the affected country’s education ministry, he said.

At the same time, wages might be affected, so there is a need to coordinate with social development agencies, he added.

“Moreover, heatwaves can be included in early warning systems, so coordination with meteorological agencies is needed,” Dr Rodriguez explained.

“The magnitude of the impact can be beyond the capacity of a single agency, so coordination with other humanitarian and development organisations is needed for coherent, consistent and technically sound preparedness and response.”

Other areas that need to be worked out include defining what a heatwave is, as the threshold for declaring one would depend on each country and context, and developing a threshold for when early action plans kick in.

“Something important for us to try to understand is what the best options are when temperatures start to near the thresholds, and when these thresholds are exceeded,” he said.

“For example, if we are going beyond the wet bulb physiological thresholds, it is not going to be sufficient to get affected people to drink water or stay under shade. We need external cooling systems in place.”

The wet bulb globe temperature is a measure of heat stress that accounts for not just air temperature, but also humidity, wind speed and solar radiation.

He noted that air-conditioning systems can worsen the heat problem, especially if they are powered by fossil fuels. Energy grids in certain areas can also collapse during a heatwave when many people turn on their air-cons at the same time.

“This is a challenge for us now – we know that for our response, we need to have our own off-grid, clean energy options,” he said, adding that the IFRC has committed to “green response” efforts to reduce the network’s emissions.

At the UN climate change conference COP29 held in November 2024, the IFRC joined a number of UN agencies, including the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Meteorological Organisation, in highlighting the importance of early warning and early action as a way of reducing the toll that climate disasters are having on communities.

During COP29, IFRC secretary-general Jagan Chapagain also outlined plans to mobilise €530 million (S$746 million) through the Global Climate Resilience Platform for urban preparedness work on extreme heat, aiming to reach 100 million people in 100 cities by 2027.

South-east Asia’s heat problem was also highlighted in early January at the First Global Heat Health Information Network South-east Asia Heat Health Forum in Singapore.

The forum marked the first time that experts across the heat response chain – from humanitarian organisations to weather scientists and medical professionals – convened under the global network to discuss South-east Asia’s heat challenges and potential solutions.

One of the hub’s main aims is to coordinate the regional response to rising temperatures.

• Audrey Tan is an assistant news editor overseeing sustainability coverage. She has reported on the environment for more than a decade and hosts the Green Pulse podcast series.
• David Fogarty is deputy foreign editor at The Straits Times and senior climate writer. He also covers the environment, in areas ranging from biodiversity to plastic pollution.

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