Title: Regional Drought Preparedness Network for Asia and the Pacific
1Regional Drought Preparedness Network for
Asia and the Pacific
- By Pak Sum LOW
- Regional Adviser
- Environment and Sustainable Development
- United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) - E-mail low_at_un.org
- A Presentation at the Second International
Conference on Early Warning, 16-18 October 2003, - Bonn, Germany
2Drought events
- are very widespread in Asia and the Pacific -
from Afghanistan (persistent drought in the past
four years) to the Pacific small island states
(drought-induced by ENSO)
3Drought in Central Java, August 2002
Drought in India, May 2003
4Drought in Gujarat, India, June 2003
5 6 7Above-average precipitation has been observed
over the tropical Pacific, especially in the
vicinity of the date line (180oW) since August
2002, while drier-than-average conditions
prevailed over many sections of Indonesia, India,
Mexico and Central America. These oceanic and
atmospheric conditions indicate the presence of
El Niño.
8The frequency, persistence and magnitude of
El-Niño events have increased in the last 20
years, and this trend is projected to continue.
The El-Niño phenomena leads to floods and
droughts throughout the tropics and subtropics,
though with different spatial patterns
9Drought Preparedness Policy
- Very few developing countries have formulated
drought preparedness policy
10Global Drought Preparedness Network (GDPN)
- Prof. Don Wilhites vision
- This GDPN is composed of Regional Drought
Preparedness Networks (RDPNs). - This initiative has been endorsed by the UNISDR
Ad Hoc Drought Discussion Group in March 2003.
11Global Drought Preparedness Network (GDPN)
- GOAL
- To help nations build greater institutional and
technical capacity to cope with drought by
promoting risk management and sharing information
and lessons learned on drought monitoring,
mitigation, preparedness and management.
Building national, regional and global
partnerships
12Global Drought Preparedness Network (GDPN)
- Individually, many nations will be unable to
improve drought coping capacity. - Collectively, through national, regional and
global partnerships, we can share information and
experiences to reduce the impacts of drought.
13Regional Drought Preparedness Networks
SEAsia
CAsia
Med
Pacific
GDPN (NDMC)
SSA
NAm
NAm
Europe
CAm
SAm
14Regional Network Objectives
- To facilitate development of drought early
warning systems, preparedness plans, and policies
aimed at vulnerability reduction - Must be region-specific
15Information Sharing
- Drought policies
- Data availability
- Planning methodologies
- Stakeholder involvement
- Traditional or indigenous practices
- Automated weather data networks
- Use of climate/drought indices
- EWS and information delivery
- Triggers or thresholds
- Mitigation/emergency response actions
- Water demand reduction/augmentation
- Impact assessment methodologies
- Scientific collaboration
16Regional Drought Preparedness Network for Asia
and the Pacific
- In response to the global drought preparedness
network initiative, UNESCAP in partnership with
UNISDR, UNDP, UNCCD Secretariat, International
Drought Information Center and Asian Disaster
Preparedness Centre (ADPC), are developing a
project proposal on Regional Drought Preparedness
Network for Asia and the Pacific, to be funded by
the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
17Regional Drought Preparedness Network for Asia
and the Pacific
- Basically, it is an umbrella of three GEF
medium-size projects for three subregions - Central Asia,
- South and East Asia, and
- the Pacific.
18Phase I Participating Countries
- Endorsement letters received
- Afghanistan
- Cambodia
- Lao PDR
- Myanmar
- Papua New Guinea
- Vietnam
- China? India?
-
- Endorsement letters expected
- Indonesia,
- Pakistan,
- Thailand
19Subregional Drought Preparedness Networks
- Central Asia
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyz Republic
- Tajikistan
- Turkmenistan
- Uzbekistan
-
- The Pacific
- Cook Islands,
- Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji,
- Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue,
Republic of Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands,
Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
20Planned Activities
- Project planning workshop (to be held in early
January 2004) - to discuss and develop work plan,
- to identify key local, national and regional
institutions with responsibilities in various
aspects of drought management (i.e., planning,
monitoring, forecasting, mitigation, response) - Provide information on drought monitoring,
mitigation, and preparedness techniques and
methodologies and linkages to the participating
institutions
21Planned Activities
- Develop and maintain a regional drought
preparedness network website to link various
organizations and agencies. As other networks
develop in other regions, these regional networks
would be linked into a global network - Develop and maintain national drought-related web
sites that link the principal national and
regional institutions and to link into the
regional network
22Planned Activities
- Scientific and technical exchanges with other
groups to promote drought preparedness activities
in the region - Public awareness and education on drought and its
impacts, and on drought preparedness and
management
23Planned Activities
- 7. Capacity-building on drought preparedness and
management through regional and subregional
training workshops, with a view to assisting the
governments in developing or strengthening their
drought policies and strategies so that they can
be integrated into the national sustainable
development plan.
24Linkage to UNCCD Thematic Programme Networks
(TPNs)
- TPN 1 Desertification Monitoring and Assessment
- TPN 2 Agroforestry and Soil Conservation in
Arid, Semi-Arid and Dry Sub-humid Areas - TPN 3 Rangeland Management and Fixation of
Shifting Sand Dunes - TPN 4 Water Resources Management for Agriculture
in Arid, Semi-Arid, and Dry Sub-Humid Areas - TPN 5 Strengthening Capacities for Drought
Impact Management and Desertification Control
and - TPN 6 Assistance for the Implementation of
Integrated Land Area Development Programmes
(LADPs) Initiatives.
25Linkage to UNCCD Subregional Programmes (SRAPs)
and RAP
- SRAP for West Asia (developed)
- SRAP for Central Asia (developed)
- SRAPs for South Asia, NE Asia, SE Asia and the
Pacific (to be developed) - Regional Action Programme (RAP) (2003-2008)
26Linkage to UNFCCC
- Climate change impacts (projected increase in
frequency of extreme events, including drought) - Adaptation plans (e.g. NAPA for LDCs)
27Acknowledgement
- The slides on Global Drought Preparedness Network
used in this presentation are modified from Prof.
Don Wilhites previous presentation on the same
topic.
28- Thank you for your kind attention!