Pakistan Heatwave Model

Since 2017, Start Network members in Pakistan, have been developing Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) Systems that allows civil society actors in-country to pro-actively manage disaster risks (such as droughts, heatwaves, and floods). Reducing the impacts of weather extremes and disasters is a fundamental part of building longer-term climate resilience. By quantifying risks in advance of disasters, pre-positioning funds, and releasing them according to pre-agreed plans, enable earlier action and reduce the costs of disasters considerably ensuring that the right assistance reaches the right people at the right time. This is all done through the scientific modelling of hazards, collaborative development of contingency plans and the establishment of pre-positioned financing to enable earlier, more predictable, and better-coordinated assistance to communities affected by predictable disasters.

Start Network members and partners in Pakistan have embarked on an ambitious initiative to build a Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) system. Now in the third year of operation, this Pakistan-led initiative supported by the Start Network team is a key milestone within the wider effort of setting up a hub in Pakistan; Ready Pakistan. The DRF will allow civil society actors in-country to proactively manage disaster risks (specifically droughts, heatwaves and floods) by accessing pre-allocated funding for early action, when pre-agreed scientific triggers are met. This document deals solely with heatwaves.

As part of the programme, Start Network has developed a technical model through which temperatures and other parameters will be monitored in Pakistan during the heatwave season. The technical model document provided to the members outlines what sources of data and forecasts will be used to predict heatwaves in Pakistan, and how triggers will be set and agreed for a select number of regions in Pakistan. When such a heatwave is predicted, it will trigger the release of funding for early preventative humanitarian action. Start Network members in Pakistan will then use these pre-allocated funds to roll out early (preventative or mitigating) actions to reduce the negative impacts of an oncoming heatwave on people and communities.