The sun’s rays strike the Earth without regard for national borders. In Asia and the Pacific, rising temperatures are impacting all, everywhere. Disaster risks are expanding and intensifying as temperatures rise with serious consequences not only for human health but also for socio-economic-environmental systems. The frequency and scale of weather events resulting from rising temperatures can range from extensive floods to intense storms, to prolonged drought, expanding desertification and giving rise to new corridors of sand and dust storms. In fact, the fastest growing climate hazards are from rising temperatures.

Rising Heat, Rising Risk assesses recent as well as long-term trends. Based on the latest projections, it distills cascading impacts for multiple infrastructures, and interrelated food, water and energy systems. It identifies troubling impacts on health systems, labour productivity, livelihoods and human well-being, with vulnerable people among those disproportionately impacted by these projections. Furthermore, the report identifies important opportunities for solutions and policy actions. In this regard, countries will have to plan strategically for heat resilience at both local and national levels, while also taking full advantage of opportunities for regional cooperation. The report underlines that as climate change, rising temperatures and risk is a global phenomenon, policy coordination at the regional level will be key to advancing multilateral cooperation for human resilience to disasters. Towards this end, the report finds that dedicated funding may not be needed. Instead financing for heat resilience requires strategic integration into existing adaptation plans, development funding and policy streams, and guided by advances in science, technology, innovation and data-sharing at national, regional and global levels.