Countries across the world dare are showing vulnerabilities to climate change, especially in the Global South as most of these countries are less developed and resource deficient. Moreover, in these countries, urban development is frequently informal, thereby creating sprawling, unplanned urban areas that suffer from a relative lack of adaptive capacity.
South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate shocks. More than half of all South Asians, or 750 million people in the 8 countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka were affected by one or more climate-related disasters in the last two decades. As per the IPCC Report 2022, the impacts of climate change could result in a loss of 2% of GDP in South Asian countries by 2050.
South Asia is expected to be one of the hardest hit regions due to the impact of climate change because of the following reasons:

• Exposure to extreme heat: Heat waves are expected to become more frequent, intense and long- lasting in South Asia, increasing the likelihood of droughts in arid areas. In the Indus and Ganga River basins, “deadly” heat waves could cross the limits of human survivability especially due to lack of affordable air conditioning and food insecurity.
• Ice melt in the Himalayas: The Himalayas are a lifeline to some 1.5 billion people living directly in the floodplains of its many rivers. With rising temperatures, the ice mass of the Himalayas is retreating more rapidly than the global average. It is leading to the formation and spread of potentially dangerous glacial lakes in India, Bhutan and Nepal.
  • As ground waters are reaching critical levels and glaciers are melting, people will get more dependent on mountain water. This may exacerbate the water-sharing crisis between states and nations in the region.
• Sea-level rise: South Asia’s many coastal cities are relatively unprotected from sea-level rise, with one of the highest coastal protection deficits in the world. In India, sea level is predicted to rise by around 15-38 cm in India by 2050, placing major cities driving regional growth at risk, including Kochi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. Also, portions of Sri Lankan coastal land and Maldives could be submerged with the rising tides.
  • Sea-level rise gives way to saline water intrusion, threatening drinking water supply, agriculture, and aquaculture. Such a situation, along with the submergence of coastal areas, will lead to a large-scale migration crisis.
• Floods: Significant portions of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are prone to recurrent flooding due to such factors as heavy monsoon rains, increased frequency of cyclones, blocked natural drainage, melting glaciers and low elevation.

Therefore, the Global South, especially South Asia, which houses a significant population of the world, needs to develop stronger social safety nets and climate-resilient development pathways. Global-level collaboration is required to mitigate the effects of climate change, as developed countries of the North are historically responsible for climate-change induced crises.