The South Asia Hydromet Forum (SAHF) supports regional engagement to promote collaboration and enhance capacity at the regional and sub-regional levels towards improving Hydromet, Early Warning and Climate Services in South Asia. This regional engagement has three main pillars:  i) Regional dialogue and knowledge sharing; ii) Regional training and capacity building activities, and iii) National level technical assistance to align with the regional engagement. Three SAHFs have been held since 2018, leading to the formation of the SAHF Executive Council, which has representation from all eight countries, and a weekly Forecasters Forum, which brings together technical experts and decision-makers to collaborate on weather and climate-related information.

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The Climate Innovation Challenge (CIC), implemented in collaboration with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, is supporting 16 innovative  and cutting-edge technologies to build communities’ resilience against the threat of climate change in South Asia. From the Internet of Things (IoT) and deep-learning model to automatized land-use, smart farming and digital systems for climate information and analytics, the winning solutions aim at meeting the needs of the target countries’ most vulnerable sectors including agriculture, water and transportation.

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The TechEmerge Resilience Program in India is a partnership of the World Bank, IFC, the Consumer Technology Association, and the Government of India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Seven pilots are underway to strengthen disaster resilience in the time of COVID-19, leveraging Artificial Intelligence, drones, IoT, as well as wifi-connected radios to ensure information access to remote communities. The innovators—competitively selected from a field of more than 300 applicants worldwide—are conducting field tests in partnership with national, state, and district Disaster Management Authorities (DMAs). 

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As the effects of climate change become increasingly evident, the design and implementation of climate-aware policies have assumed a more central role in the macroeconomic policy debate. With this has come an increasing recognition of the importance of introducing climate into the economic policymaking. Two macrofiscal  models,  PakMod, and MANAGE-CGE, were developed and integrated into Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance, Macro-Fiscal Unit (MFU) for climate-resilient policymaking.  

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PARCC-supported analysis (Greenhouse gas-Air pollution Interaction and Syngergies or GAINS Tool)  and convening of stakeholders influenced a shift in the focus of national programs in India for air quality management from a city-by-city approach to a more impactful and broader airshed management approach.  This approach involved a combination of core analytics with real time results which were used to convene stakeholders, and collaboration between the Bank’s country-led and regional efforts. The results of the analytical work were presented to the 15th Finance Commission of India in July 2020 to advocate for their funding the Million Plus Cities Challenge Fund - the world’s first air pollution fiscal transfer performance-based grant program. The Finance Commission attributed its recommendations to the World Bank and allocated $1.6 billion for tackling ambient air quality in urban agglomerations across India.

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PARCC-supported activities promoted regional collaboration to increase resilience of fishermen and their dependent coastal fishing communities to climate and disaster risks. Building on technology innovation investments under ongoing Bank operations, it facilitated south-south knowledge exchange on adoption of cutting-edge technological solutions for improving weather warning, and search and rescue at sea for small scale artisanal and semi-industrial coastal fisheries.   It established regional partners to initiate interagency/intergovernmental dialogue and information sharing protocols and agreements to facilitate joint fishing vessel monitoring and search as rescue, as well as for monitoring and reduction of fishing gear debris and plastic pollution. It is also supporting digital platform for home-based women workers  and entrepreneurs involved in Fisheries and related Activities in South Asia, with Particular Focus on Maldives