In a progressive step toward building climate resilience in South Asia, the new CREWS South Asia Programme has been approved by the CREWS Steering Committee. Targeting Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, and Nepal, this initiative will strengthen early warning systems and hydrometeorological services across the region.
South Asia is known for being vulnerable to diverse hydrometeorological and climate hazards due to its varied geography, dense population, and socio-economic challenges. Between 2000 and 2024, the region witnessed 957 reported disasters that affected over 1.4 billion people, claimed over 230,000 lives, and caused an estimated loss of US$ 210 billion to the economy.
Those countries covered through the programme in South Asia face frequent and severe climate hazards, including floods, droughts, cyclones, impacting millions and costing billions. While fatalities from large-scale events such as cyclones have reduced, localized phenomena such as landslides and flash floods or convective systems still cause significant losses and damages. The goal of CREWS South Asia is to complement national-level efforts with targeted regional interventions to address shared challenges, national-level sustainability problems, capacity limitations, etc. This programme will eventually unlock regional collaboration, enhance forecasting accuracy, and support timely, people-centered and gender-responsive decision-making.
The programme is led by the World Bank with World Meteorological Organization, and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and anchored in the South Asia Hydromet Forum (SAHF) with Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) serving as the secretariat, the project will deliver:
✅ Better access to early warnings
✅ Stronger regional coordination
✅ Innovative tools like impact-based forecasting & decision support systems (DSS)
✅ Greater protection for at-risk communities