LIVING WITH RISK :AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO REDUCING SOCIETAL VULNERABILITY TO DROUGHT

ISDR AD HOC DISCUSSION GROUP ON DROUGHT

ISDR TF7. 10-11 April 2003

Society exposed to a natural hazard:

Extended period of unusually low precipitation

Lack of drought management policies not implemented

Society vulnerable to drought

Lack of drought mitigation

Potential disaster

Poverty

Violent conflict

Dependence on, Overexploitation of Natural Resources

Envi

ronm

enta

lgov

erna

nce

Locally specific factors (historical, political, social, economic, cultural) resulting in marginalized groups lacking skills / resources / options to mitigate impacts. Vary over time

Lack of drought preparedness So

ciet

alre

spon

seto

livin

gw

ithris

k

Nat

ure

Con

sequ

ence

s,

rein

forc

emen

t

Society Vulnerable to Drought

Society exposed to a natural hazard:

Extended period of unusually low precipitation

Drought management policy implemented

Society resilient to drought

Drought management policies implemented

Impacts mitigated

Enviro

nmen

talG

over

nanc

e

Policies to enhance social adaptive capacity, at both local and national scales

Drought awareness & preparedness

Societ

alRes

pons

e

toliv

ing

with

risk

Nat

ure

Con

sequ

ence

s,

Reinf

orce

men

t

Political capital

Appropriate relationships with international economy

Cultu

reof

prev

entio

n,

early

warn

ing

system

s

Authorities aware and accountable to vulnerable populations Appropriate land tenure arrangements Incentives for preparedness

Lessons learned

Society Resilient to Drought

• Supporting systematic collection and processing of meteorological and hydrological observations;

• Building and strengthening scientific networks;

• Developing an inventory of climate and water resources indicators and indices;

• Improved understanding of the drought climatology;

• Understanding the principal causes of drought at local, regional, and global levels;

• Decision support models for the dissemination of drought-related information;

• Development and dissemination of vulnerability/risk assessment tools (social and environmental);

• Dissemination of drought planning methodologies to drought-prone countries

• Development of national and regional drought management policies

• Support development of regional networks for drought preparedness that would build greater institutional capacity at the local, national, and regional capacity, sharing lessons learned in drought monitoring, prediction, vulnerability assessment, preparedness, and policy development;

•Education and awareness of policy makers and the public;

•Enhancement of collaboration between regional and international organizations

Identified Critical Issues

1. ISDR’s Ad Hoc Drought Discussion Group, should continue to collaborate on how to implement actions designed to achieve the integrated approach to reducing societal vulnerability to drought, primarily through email contact between members of the discussion group. Report semi-annually or annually to the Inter-Agency Task Force, as appropriate.

2. The Group recommend that UN/ISDR should support fundraising jointly with partners

3. UN/ISDR should develop jointly with relevant UN and non-UN technical institution, a proposal for the further development of a global network on drought preparedness

3. the proposal for a global drought preparedness network should be further consult with additional relevant organizations for the purpose of involving them gradually in the networking process.

5. UN/ISDR should play a critical role in fostering the further development of regional drought preparedness networks, resource mobilization to support these networks, and coordinating activities between the regions.

6. UN/ISDR should facilitate development of an information clearinghouse on drought management.

Recommendations

Proposed Global Drought Risk Reduction Network

ISDR-SECRETARIAT

ASIA/PACIFIC NETWORK

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

NETWORK

EUROPE NETWORK

MEDITERRANEAN AND NEAR-EAST

NETWORK

AMERICAS NETWORK

ISDR Inter-Agency Task Force Policy Guidance and General

SUB-REGIONAL NETWORKS

PARTNERS: FAO, WMO, UNDP, UNEP, UNCCD, IFAD, Worldbank, UN Regional Economic Commissions, others regional Organizations, the NDMC/IDIC at the University of Nebraska, The IRI/Columbia University, DMC’s, ACMAD, Global Fire Monitoring Center, and other key partners at the regional and national level.

Proposed Global Drought Risk Reduction Network

Proposed Activities/Drought Network

• · Organize regional workshops to launch the regional Networks and identify partners and coordinating institutions, as well as the primary objectives and activities of the regional network;

•  

• · Organize a workshop in Geneva to launch the global process and identify partners, donors, common goals for the regional networks, and appropriate coordinating mechanisms;

•  

• · Establishment of a global website, managed by ISDR-Secretariat and linked with regional websites;

•  

• ·  Identify activities to bring together natural and social scientists to implement the vision of drought management proposed by the ISDR Drought Discussion Group.

•UNCCD

•UNFCCC

•Early Warning Process and Conference

•Wildland Fire

•European Commission Sixth Framework Programme

• IFAD, Dryland Development Center, FAO, WMO, UNEP, Development Banks, Regional Commissions, Technical Institutions (DMC’s, ACMAD, NDMC/IDIC, GFMC,…etc),…

Linkages