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WMO Drought Activities and

Role of the Drought

Regional CentresJose Camacho

Scientific Officier

Agricultural Meteorology Division

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Overview of

WMO

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World Meteorological Organization

• United Nations agency for weather, climate, hydrology and water resources and related environmental issues.

• 189 Members from National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS)

• WMO Priority area: Disaster risk reduction – Drought

• 10 major scientific & technical programmes (Secretariat) and

8 Technical Commissions advise & guide activities of programmes (Experts)

• 6 Regional Associations involved in implementation

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Eight Commissions with focus on

Technical Issues

• Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM)

• Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM)

• Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS)

• Commission for Basic Systems (CBS)

• Commission for Climatology (CCl)

• Commission for Hydrology (CHy)

• Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO)

• Joint WMO-IOC Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM)

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WMO Regional Associations

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WMO Regional Association VI

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Drought and Disaster Recovery

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Drought types and definitions

Meteorological

Agricultural Hydrological

Socio-economic

Decreasing emphasis on the natural event (precipitation deficiencies)

Increasing complexity of impacts and conflicts

Time/Duration of the event

Increasing emphasis on water/natural resource management

Source: Wilhite 2006

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Drought

evolution

Wilhite2010

Source: Wilhite 2006

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Wilhite – Lincoln approach on Disaster Management

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High-Level Meeting on National Drought

Policies (HMNDP)

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Why a HMNDP is needed ?Why a HMNDP is needed ?

• Despite the repeated occurrences of droughts throughout human history and the large impacts on different socio-economic sectors, no concerted efforts have ever been made to initiate a dialogue on the formulation and adoption of national drought policies.

• Amongst all the countries in the world, only Australia has a national drought policy which provides a clear description of when and how communities affected by droughts could seek drought relief under a legal framework.

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Why a HMNDP is needed ? (2)Why a HMNDP is needed ? (2)

• HMNDP could ensure that government actions transcend far beyond the conventional reactive approaches. In fact, it has been demonstrated traditional drought assistance or relief programs actually result in less self-reliance and more dependence on governments, increasing the vulnerability of sectors to future drought events.

• If more acceptable results are to be achieved while dealing with droughts, a new approach should be taken and new attitude adopted in dealing with droughts.

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Why a HMNDP is needed ? (3)Why a HMNDP is needed ? (3)

• A high level meeting could help develop such a new approach through

– developing a common understanding of the issues involved,

– discussing the different approaches that could be incorporated into a national drought policy and

– finally establishing a framework of a national drought policy that could help all the nations around the world.

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Suggested Steps for Organization Suggested Steps for Organization

of HMNDPof HMNDP

• WMO Congress approved this proposal (May 2011).

• Develop a comprehensive concept note on national drought policy through an Expert Meeting (July 2011)

• A meeting of the HMNDP International Organizing Committee (HIOC) (December 2011, Geneve) .

• Engage diplomatic missions in Geneva (April 2012)

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Suggested Steps for Organization Suggested Steps for Organization

of HMNDP (2)of HMNDP (2)

• Organize second meeting of HIOC to discuss and finalize programme for HMNDP (Brazilia, June 2012)

• Organize second meeting with missions (End of summer 2012), get their final endorsement of the revised concept note and programme for HMNDP.

• Organize the HMNDP (March 2013, Geneve).

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Key Partners for HMNDPKey Partners for HMNDP

(Members of HIOC) (Members of HIOC)

• UN Agencies: UNCCD, ISDR, FAO, IFAD, WFP, UNESCO, UNWATER

• International Organizations: World Bank, ICRISAT, ICARDA

• Regional Drought Monitoring Centres: AGRHYMET, ACMAD, ICPAC, DMC (SADC), DMCSEE

• Key National Organizations: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, USA (NOAA, USDA, NDMC), Russia, Korea (KMA)

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• Help mobilize financial resources for the HMNDP in Nov- Dec 2012.

• Plan a panel discussion at COP-11 of UNCCD in 2013 to inform the Parties about the outcomes of HMNDP

Future Actions Future Actions

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Integrated Drought Management Programme

(IDMP)

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Proposed Integrated Drought Management Programme

• WMO and the Global Water Partnership are proposing an Integrated Drought Management Programme. Similar to APFM

• Targeting intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in drought monitoring, prediction, drought risk reduction and management.

• Primary beneficiaries are expected to be governmental institutions, agencies responsible for developing drought management policies and/or implementing systems for drought monitoring, prediction, preparedness and mitigation.

• The principal approach to develop global co-ordination of efforts to strengthen drought monitoring, risk identification, drought prediction and early warning services and development of drought management knowledge base.

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Proposed Integrated Drought Management Programme (cont)

• The expected services to be provided are:

– Regional coordination of drought monitoring, prediction and

early warning activities

– Inception of pilot projects and coordination of regional projects

to showcase best practices

– Collection and dissemination of information and knowledge on

good practices;

– Guidelines, methodologies, tools and supporting documentation

on policy development and management practices and procedures; and

– Capacity building and advice on Integrated Drought

Management.

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Current Actions - IDMP

• Draft Concept Note is being revised. Final version will be sent to donors by end of 2011.

• Ad-hoc Steering Committee will be established Fall 2011.

• Creation of IDMP and HMNDP webpages will be created in Fall2011.

• The IDMP concept will be promoted at various meetings (UNCCD COP-10, UNFCCC COP-17, AGU, etc)

• IDMP will integrate and eventually incorporate WMO efforts on drought indices and HMNDP

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Drought Management Centre

for South-eastern Europe (DMCSEE)

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From “How to monitor agriculture drought? A challenge for Drought Management Center forSE Europe”. A. Sušnik, T. Pogačar, J. Roškar, G. Gregorič, A. Ceglar

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DMCSEE - Evolution

• From 2004, UNCCD and WMO are supporting the development of a Drought Management Centre for South-Eastern Europe (DMCSEE). Slovenia is the country hosting the Centre from 2006.

• At date of today, 13 countries are participating: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey with support of the WMO and UNCCD Secretariat.

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The Role of Drought Regional Centres

Drought Monitoring

•Meteorological

•Agricultural

•Hydrological

Impact evaluation – Sectors – Economic and social

evaluation

Drought management guidance

Cooperating closely with UNCCD and WMO

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Structure Drought Regional Centres

Key institution (economically independant/own legal

status)

Managed by key institutions from the participating

countries (Meteo and others)

Advised by a selected team of regional experts

High tech in products and services delivery and

always in close relation with national institutions.

World Meteorological OrganizationWorking together in weather, climate and water

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WMO www.wmo.int

Thank You

jcamacho@wmo.int

www.wmo.int/agm