Droughts are known to have the most far-reaching impacts of all natural disasters. They affect nations around the world with dramatic impacts on food security, social stability, environment and the economies at large. While the impact of droughts can be significantly reduced by risk-based drought management policies and practices, most countries currently have in place only emergency and recovery strategies that regulate disaster response after droughts have taken their toll. Such reactive responses, however, often prove to be ineffective.
Although droughts have affected mankind for centuries, only a few countries have so far developed and implemented proactive, risk-based national drought management policies.
Countries would greatly benefit from moving away from such reactive, crisis-based approaches to a more pro-active and risk-based drought management approach. On the occasion of the High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy (HMNDP) held in March 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC) launched a joint capacity development initiative under the auspices of UN-Water. This initiative aims to support countries towards building their capacities for developing proactive, risk-based drought management policies.
The initiative’s relevant documents including the concept note can be located at HERE.