Nitin Magima

Residency: Columbia Global Center Mumbai

Research: Threading Resilience: Industry-Wide Action-Response to Heat Stress in Garment Supply Chains

Nitin Magima is part of the Financial Instruments Sector Team at Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), Climate School, and an affiliate of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). He builds early warning systems, and seasonal forecasting tools that governments and humanitarian agencies use to trigger anticipatory action and design index insurance for populations most exposed to climate risk.

Magima has collaborated with the World Food Programme, World Bank, NASA SERVIR, Global Center on Adaptation, and One Acre Fund to co-design strategies that respond to climate risks and build long-term resilience. He has co-designed and deployed seasonal climate forecasting systems to support anticipatory action in Guatemala, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Madagascar, Lesotho, Yemen, and Djibouti. He led the data pipeline design for the Climate Finance (CliF) Vulnerability Index, a Rockefeller Foundation-funded initiative that assesses financial and climate vulnerability across countries to improve the targeting of adaptation finance. He was also awarded the Amazon Web Service Social Responsibility and Impact Grant to develop a cloud-based early warning system for disaster response. Most recently, Magima has been awarded the Columbia Global Scholar-in-Residence grant and will work at Columbia Global Center Mumbai in 2026/2027 on "Threading Resilience".

"Threading Resilience" is an initiative building supply chain adaptation and resilience to heat stress to address heightened risks to women garment workers' health, safety and wellbeing in India's urban industrial zones. The initiative will pilot an integrated Anticipatory Action and parametric insurance system co-designed with workers, local civil society leaders, suppliers, and brand stakeholders.

He has also co-designed data tools and provided strategic expertise across a range of organizations, including the Student Leadership Network (via Tech:NYC), the Taylor Geospatial Institute, and the Bezos Earth Fund's AI for Climate and Nature initiative. He holds an MPA from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, a BSc in Mathematics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and the FSA Credential, and is an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.