Don Wilhite, climatologist and professor, recently traveled to Brazil to participate in and facilitate two drought policy workshops.
The first took place Dec. 2-3 and was organized by the World Bank and the Ministry of National Integration.
"This meeting focused on the need for and the development of a national drought policy for Brazil with an emphasis on the northeast part of the country, which is the most drought-prone portion of the country and has been in a very severe drought since 2011," Wilhite said. "The year 2012 was especially devastating; (with) suffering the loss of more than 4 million cattle."
The second workshop took place Dec. 4-6 and was the second in a series of regional workshops organized by the United Nations agencies as a follow-up to the High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy that convened in Geneva, Switzerland from March 11-15, 2013. The sponsoring agencies of this High-level Meeting were the World Meteorological Organization, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and UN Water, a consortium of UN agencies with a focus on water issues.
"The workshop in Brazil was for the Latin American and Caribbean region," Wilhite said. "Thirteen countries participated in this workshop. I gave the keynote presentation and facilitated this workshop, and I am also a member of the organizing committee for all of these workshops."
Both workshops were held in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Additional workshops are slated to take place in Africa and Asia, with the next regional workshop likely to be in Bangkok, Thailand in April or May 2014.
"The purpose of these workshops is to train representatives from the invited countries on how to develop a national drought policy," Wilhite said. "As a follow-up to the first workshop organized by the World Bank and the Ministry of National Integration, I was invited to Brasilia to give a lecture on national drought policy to staff members of the Ministry of National Integration. I also gave an interview to the World Bank's communication specialist about my work and the need for national drought policies."
That article featured in the El País publication – written in Spanish – can be viewed here: http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/12/11/actualidad/1386777333_583840.html.
An English article published in the International Business Times citing some of the content in the El País article can be viewed here: http://www.ibtimes.com/drought-decimates-crops-latin-america-pushing-prices-corn-soy-1507872.
— Mekita Rivas, Natural Resources