Don Wilhite, climatologist and professor, presented the keynote address and facilitated a third regional capacity building workshop on national drought policy in Hanoi, Vietnam from May 6-9.
"The goal of these workshops is to build internal capacity in developing countries for the development of national drought policies that are based on the principles of risk reduction," Wilhite said.
The first two workshops took place in Romania for Eastern European countries and in Brazil for countries in the Latin American/Caribbean region.
The workshop series is sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the U.N. Convention on Desertification, UN-Water and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
"These workshops are a follow up activity to the High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy that was held in Geneva, Switzerland in March 2013," Wilhite said. At that meeting, Wilhite chaired the international organizing committee and presented the keynote address.
The next regional capacity building workshop is set to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this August for countries in the Greater Horn of Africa. Other workshops in Africa are planned for later in 2014 and extending into 2015.
— Mekita Rivas, Natural Resources