In the scorching heat of Delhi, a group of residents from the Sunder Nagri slum have taken it upon themselves to document their experiences of surviving extreme temperatures. Through a unique initiative, they are creating heat diaries, offering a personal and detailed account of their daily struggles. This project, which involves 40 households, aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of how heat is experienced across different communities, going beyond just the numbers. The residents are not just recording their experiences; they are also exploring practical solutions, such as shade, water sources, and increased greenery, to mitigate the impact of heatwaves.
One of the key insights from this project is the vast difference in how heat is experienced depending on various factors such as geography, income, occupation, gender, and caste. Aravind Unni, an urban planner and researcher, emphasizes the importance of understanding these experiences at a micro-level to better protect vulnerable populations, such as street vendors like Raja, who face temperatures as high as 45C during peak summer months. The heat diaries, as explained by Nibedita Saha, a Greenpeace India researcher, are intended to serve as comprehensive journals of residents' daily lives, capturing their routines, work, home, mood, and families.
The project has already yielded valuable findings, such as the discovery that some streets in Sunder Nagri reflect temperatures on the ground of more than 54C. This information is crucial for developing pragmatic solutions and urban resilience policy. However, Unni also highlights a significant challenge: Indian cities often lack the administrative capacity and infrastructure to implement decentralized action. Despite this, the diaries have been submitted to India's National Human Rights Commission, urging recognition of extreme heat as a human rights issue and the implementation of protective measures.
The team behind the project plans to share the testimonies with ministries, policymakers, and MPs to advocate for more targeted measures to protect people from extreme heat. They also aim to develop the testimonies into evidence of impacts and injuries, which could be used for lawsuits to increase accountability, given the Indian Supreme Court's 2024 ruling that protection from the most adverse impacts of the climate crisis forms part of the right to life. On 4 August, India's government added heatwaves to the list of nationally notified disasters, allowing states to access emergency relief funds. Unni and Farooq hope that this decision will enable local action guided by community participation.
Arshi, a 19-year-old distance-learning student, shares her experience of living in a humid environment with temperatures as high as 36.3C 'feels-like'. She highlights the challenges of balancing her studies with the need to help her family, especially her mother and sister. The heat diaries, with their focus on personal experiences, provide a powerful tool for understanding the human impact of extreme heat and for driving policy changes that prioritize community well-being.
