Interventions to Counter Extreme Heat: Development, Implementation, Evaluation, and Creating a Road Map for Sustainability in Climate-Vulnerable Informal Settlement Communities

Team: John Openshaw, Joelle Rosser, Michael Snyder, Rishee Jain, Narges Baniasadi, Eran Bendavid

The number of people exposed to extreme heat is growing exponentially and is poised to become a leading threat to health and livelihood. Residents of informal settlements lack the resources to adapt to climate change and face heightened risks of heat-related mortality and morbidity. This project will evaluate, develop, and implement strategies to scale the use of highly solar reflective white paint on household roofs to reduce heat-related morbidity and mortality in coastal impoverished informal settlements. Although implementation will be focused on settlements in Indonesia, the approach has the potential to impact 1.1 billion people living in informal settlements globally—a number projected to grow by 2 billion over the next 30 years.