Don Wilhite, a climatologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is helping United Nations agencies plan a global conference about growing drought policy concerns facing nations across the planet.
The "High-Level Meeting on National Drought Policy: Toward More Drought Resilient Societies" will be held March 11-15, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Wilhite, former director of UNL's School of Natural Resources, was the founding director of the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) and will give the keynote address at the conference. Current NDMC director Michael Hayes, and Mark Svoboda, leader of the NDMC’s Monitoring Program Area, are also invited speakers.
The World Meteorological Organization, the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations are among the organizations that recommend that countries should have drought policies.
“Climate change is projected to increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts, with impacts on many sectors, in particular food, water, and energy,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a press release. “We need to move away from a piecemeal, crisis-driven approach and develop integrated risk-based national drought policies.”
“The 2010 drought-induced famine in the Greater Horn of Africa, the ongoing crisis in the Sahel region and the extensive drought in the USA show that developing and developed countries alike are vulnerable,” said Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). “Effective long-term solutions to mitigate the effects of drought, and address desertification and land degradation urgently need to be mainstreamed in national development plans and policies.”
Goals for national drought policies, according to the meeting’s website, are:
1. Proactive mitigation and planning measures, risk management, public outreach and resource stewardship as key elements of effective national drought policy.
2. Greater collaboration to enhance the national/ regional/global observation networks and information delivery systems to improve public understanding of, and preparedness for, drought.
3. Incorporation of comprehensive governmental and private insurance and financial strategies into drought preparedness plans.
4. Recognition of a safety net of emergency relief based on sound stewardship of natural resources and self-help at diverse governance levels.
5. Coordination of drought programs and response in an effective, efficient and customer-oriented manner.
More information is on the meeting website: http://www.hmndp.org/
Find background on the World Meteorological Organization’s website: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/wcp/drought/hmndp/
Related reading:
Towards a Compendium on National Drought Policy – Proceedings of an Expert Team Meeting. Sivakumar, Mannava V.K., Raymond P. Motha, Donald A. Wilhite and John J. Qu (Eds.). 2011. Proceedings of an Expert Meeting on the Preparation of a Compendium on National Drought Policy, 14–15 July 2011, Washington DC, USA: Geneva, Switzerland: World Meteorological Organization. AGM-12; WAOB-2011. 135 pp.