Mapping flood, drought risks across Indian districts

A recent report warns that 51 districts in India face ‘very high’ flood risk, with 118 more categorised as ‘high’ risk. An event at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi saw the release of this report titled ‘District-level Climate Risk Assessment for India: Mapping Flood and Drought Risks Using the IPCC Framework’.

Over 60% of Indian districts are high climate risk zones prone to flood and drought, the two commonest natural hazards, says the report that is an in-depth analysis of flood and drought risks across 698 districts in India. About 85% of these districts are in states such as Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Odisha, and Jammu and Kashmir. Dual risk of flood and drought data in the report shows that among the top 50 districts with the highest flood risk and the top 50 districts with the highest drought risk, 11 districts are at a ‘Very High’ risk of both flood and drought. Districts facing this dual risk include Patna in Bihar; Alappuzha in Kerala; Charaideo, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, South SalmaraMankachar, and Golaghat in Assam; Kendrapara in Odisha, and Murshidabad, Nadia, and Uttar Dinajpur in West Bengal. The study integrated climatic hazards, exposure and vulnerability to offer a comprehensive view of district-level risks to aid in disaster risk reduction and highlight the direct impact on people and livelihoods, paving the way for data-driven adaptation planning, as pointed out by an Indian Express analysis.

Highlighting the importance of climate-resilient development, Mr. Pierre-Yves Pitteloud, from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Embassy of Switzerland, said at the event that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is developing infrastructure to improve the lives of people. He added that the report had undertaken risk mapping at the district level to generate dialogue between policymakers, people, and local bodies like municipalities to identify the vulnerability and exposure along with the hazard.

The new assessment report developed by the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, and CSTEP Bengaluru, and supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), offers district-level flood and drought hazard, exposure, and vulnerability maps, leading to the generation of comprehensive flood and drought risk maps for India. A detailed User Manual was also released along with the report. It also provides guidance to the governments on districts where urgent actions are needed and contains district-level flood and drought hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and risk maps for each Indian state and union territories, which can help build the capacity of State Climate Change Cells and allied departments in climate change in risk assessment for adaptation planning.

As stated by a Deccan Herald report, the researchers said for the first time an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change framework was applied to assess the climate risks for districts, going beyond vulnerability. The assessment was done for 698 districts, of which 459 were found to be at risk. Factors like population density, people’s socio-economic conditions and infrastructures like road network – needed for fast movement during a crisis – have been factored into while deciding on the climate risk of a particular district. The Deccan Herald report also points out that this study comes at a time when human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with the global mean surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850–1900 levels in the decade 2011–2020. Global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase, which has increased the frequency of extreme weather events.

According to an Observer Voice analysis, the report aims to translate risk assessments into actionable strategies. It also sheds light on the dual risks of flood and drought faced by certain districts. Addressing these requires a coordinated approach that combines immediate response strategies with long-term adaptation planning. The report also offers a detailed examination of flood and drought risks, presenting district-level hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and risk maps for each Indian state and Union Territory. This mapping is crucial for understanding the specific risks faced by different regions and the findings will also guide future climate change policies and actions.