Gis Powering Indias Climate Action

While awareness is essential, understanding the problem is not enough. What we need is decisive action.The most important action begins with asking the ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘who’ of climate risks, analysing the insights, and turning those insights into preventive action.Where are communities facing the greatest exposure to natural hazards? Where are critical infrastructure systems most vulnerable to disruption? Where should investments be prioritised to protect lives, property, and economic activity?When are risks most likely to occur? When do seasonal patterns intensify vulnerability? Which neighbourhoods experience recurrent flooding during the monsoon season? Where do heatwaves become most severe during the hottest months of the year?And equally important, who is most affected? Who lives in areas with the highest climate exposure? Who lacks access to cooling, healthcare, transportation, or resilient infrastructure? Which populations, including children, elderly, low-income households, outdoor workers, and marginalised communities, face the greatest risks during floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events?By answering the interconnected questions of where, when, and who, we can move beyond broad assumptions and develop targeted, data-driven solutions. Powered by GIS and GeoAI, this geographic understanding enables decision-makers to anticipate risks, prioritise resources, protect vulnerable populations, and build resilience where it is needed most.By integrating real-time data from satellites, weather stations, river gauges, and sensors into a unified spatial platform, GIS facilitates timely action, a non-negotiable in case of disasters for real outcome. Additionally, automated GIS-based systems, powered by AI, can trigger alerts when predefined thresholds are exceeded, significantly reducing delays between hazard detection and emergency response. GeoAI further enhances preparedness by identifying anomaly patterns and forecasting risks before conventional warning systems activate.GIS also enables more targeted disaster management. By combining hazard data with information on population density, vulnerable groups, infrastructure, and road connectivity, authorities can prioritise evacuations and resource deployment. Advanced technologies such as SAR satellites and AI-powered change detection can monitor floods, landslides, and infrastructure damage even during cloud cover or at night. Ultimately, GIS transforms disaster management from reactive response to proactive risk reduction, helping save lives, protect infrastructure, and strengthen climate resilience across India.In India, nearly 65% of cultivated land remains rain-fed and highly dependent on monsoon rainfall. Thus, variability in rainfall, prolonged droughts, and declining groundwater levels significantly threaten agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods. GIS supports precision agriculture by monitoring soil moisture, crop health, rainfall patterns, and drought conditions using satellite and remote sensing technologies. It also assists water resource management through watershed mapping, groundwater monitoring, irrigation planning, and reservoir management. These spatial insights help farmers and policymakers optimize resource use, reduce crop losses, and strengthen resilience against climate-induced food and water shortages.Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns are disrupting wildlife habitats and increasing human-wildlife conflicts. GIS enables conservation agencies to map biodiversity hotspots, monitor forest cover changes, track wildlife movements, and identify ecological corridors. By integrating satellite imagery and environmental data, GIS supports habitat restoration, afforestation initiatives, and landscape-level conservation planning. These tools help protect biodiversity while improving ecosystem resilience to the climate crisis.The application of GIS is not limited to these areas. With GIS, we can transform complexity into clarity and empower climate action through informed decision-making. By combining spatial data, advanced computing, and powerful analytical tools, GIS allows us to understand challenges in unprecedented detail, identify targeted solutions where they will be most effective, and evaluate their impact over time.It is difficult to think of anything of real significance today that isn’t, in some way, managed using maps, geographic knowledge, GIS, GeoAI, or imagery. Platforms like ArcGIS are already in active use across national agencies in India, supporting diverse functions ranging from forestry and environmental conservation to urban planning, disaster management, infrastructure development, water resource management, agriculture, and public health.While most GIS users are working in their own organisations, from water companies to planning agencies or other businesses, all the data layers can be brought together to create a connected, intelligent geospatial platform that integrates real-time data, AI, and digital mapping to help humanity holistically understand and solve global challenges.We must work together, invest in innovation, and enact meaningful policies. Our world is complex and so are the challenges we face. But we can map out a future where people and the planet can thrive together. The world we envision is achievable. We need to correctly evaluate the ‘where’, ‘when’, and ‘who’ of climate impact using the right technologies today.(The views expressed are personal)This article is authored by Agendra Kumar, managing director, Esri India.