Bangkok, Thailand — October 1, 2025 The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) joined development partners and global institutions at “Stronger Together in a Hotter World: A Roundtable on Health and Livelihoods” on October 1, 2025, hosted by The Rockefeller Foundation in Bangkok. The event, convened by the Climate Resilience for All (CRA) initiative in partnership with the Prudence Foundation, brought together a diverse group of organizations to discuss the growing impacts of extreme heat on women informal workers and explore scalable solutions for climate and health resilience.

ADPC’s Role in Strengthening Urban Health Resilience

As a regional technical partner in climate and disaster resilience, ADPC contributes to strengthening the health resilience of Thailand’s urban communities through its ongoing collaboration with the Thai Disaster Preparedness Foundation (TDPF) and the Thai Network for Disaster Resilience (TNDR). Under the joint program “Enhancing the Health Resilience of At-Risk Communities against Climate Vulnerabilities in Critical Urban Centers of Thailand,” supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, ADPC provides technical expertise in data analytics, community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM), and policy integration. Figure 1: Ms. Ronilda Co, Program Lead for Localization, underscoring ADPC’s work on heat and health in Thailand. The program focuses on improving access to climate and health information, empowering communities through localized risk management, and supporting evidence-based policy planning in alignment with the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) framework. By combining scientific data with community engagement, ADPC and its partners aim to strengthen Bangkok’s preparedness for extreme heat and related health challenges, ensuring that local authorities and residents can make informed decisions to protect lives and livelihoods.

Strengthening Partnerships for Heat and Health Resilience

At the roundtable, participants shared experiences and innovative solutions such as parametric heat insurance and cash support for income loss, underscoring the need for integrated approaches that address both financial and healthcare systems in heat resilience. The event brought together a broad range of expertise and perspectives, including Mr. Marco Toscano-Rivalta, Chief of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and Mr. Anouj Mehta, Country Director for Thailand, Asian Development Bank (ADB). Their participation reinforced the collective recognition that the challenges of climate, Figure 2: Diverse stakeholders participating at the roundtable health, and livelihoods are deeply interconnected and that multi-sectoral collaboration is vital to addressing the compounding effects of extreme heat. Ms. Ronilda Co, ADPC Localization Program Lead, highlighted the organization’s ongoing initiatives in addressing the intersection of heat and health issues in Thailand.

Heat Threatens Health and Livelihoods of Women Informal Workers

The roundtable was hosted by Ms. Deepali Khanna, Senior Vice President, The Rockefeller Foundation Asia, who highlighted the urgency of protecting vulnerable communities and accelerating inclusive action. The dialogue, co-led by Ms. Kathy Baughman McLeod, Chief Executive Officer, Climate Resilience for All, and Ms. Diana Guzmán and Ms. Nicole Ngeow of the Prudence Foundation, centered on the lived experiences of women informal workers — from street vendors to motorcycle delivery drivers — whose livelihoods are increasingly affected by rising temperatures. Participants noted that women-centered resilience solutions are already being implemented and must now be scaled through coordinated policy, finance, and community partnerships.

Commitment to Action

In closing, the discussion reaffirmed that addressing extreme heat requires partnerships that prioritize women’s leadership and participation while advancing locally led and evidence-based solutions. ADPC’s engagement in the roundtable reflects its ongoing commitment to supporting national and local partners in Thailand and the wider region in building climate and health resilience through science, policy, and community action. As the conversations concluded, one message stood clear — in a hotter world, collaboration and inclusion remain the foundation of resilience.