Early investments in climate resilience could save India billions in disaster management

A single one-in-twenty year disaster event could send India reeling with losses worth more than $11 billion (almost a trillion rupees) -- the highest among eight countries assessed by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), in a new analysis. But early investments in resilience and social programmes could cover the costs of damage for a fraction of what they cost today, the study says.

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For a one-in-twenty-year event leading to losses and damages worth $11 billion, it would cost $48.5 billion to cover this through existing social programmes. By comparison, investments in anticipatory direct benefit transfers can cover the cost in $5.4 billion, and early resilience investments can cover the cost for $2.2 billion.

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"The biggest problem, whether we work with the NGOs or the bankers or various funding agencies, is we don't talk to each other. So it is very, very difficult in a government scenario to get interdepartmental coordination [for climate reslience]," said Kunal Satyarthi, joint secretary with the Ministry of Rural Affairs, in response to the IIED study. "I also believe we need to decentralise disaster management, and if communities become volunteers for disaster management, it would improve resilience the most."

In India, climate resilience is also complicated by regulations that could subvert relief efforts. Changes to the country's Manual for Drought Management in 2016, for example, made it more difficult for jurisdictions to declare drought, and in turn for farmers to access relief, Scroll had reported. Heat waves are also not recognised as disaster in several states, impeding disaster management funds from addressing damages caused by extreme heat.