Flooding, drought, cyclones, and other extreme weather ignore national borders.
In the past two decades, more than half of all South Asians, or 750 million people, have been affected by at least one natural disaster such as flooding, drought, or cyclones. Based on current trends, losses in the region will average $160 billion annually by 2030.
Variability in the annual monsoon season, which delivers more than 70 percent of South Asia's rainfall, affects farm production as well as aviation, hydropower, urban infrastructure, and tourism. However, there is limited access to weather information tailored to economic sectors. Targeted weather information can save lives, improve the livelihoods of farmers and business owners, and strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities.
The World Bank works with partners, including the UK-funded Resilient Asia Program, to provide technical assistance and analytical support to to accelerate transformational and collaborative climate action and to respond to the urgency of climate change challenges in South Asia.
Earlier, climate resilience and disaster risk management efforts were supported under the Program for Asia Resilience to Climate Change (PARCC), which closed in February 2023.
The World Bank's South Asia Water Initiative or SAWI, which was a multi-donor trust fund to increase regional cooperation in transboundary water management, also closed in June 2022.
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Blog series: Climate change in South Asia
