1 / 30

Regional Drought Preparedness Network for Asia and the Pacific

taffy
Download Presentation

Regional Drought Preparedness Network for Asia and the Pacific

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

    1. Regional 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@un.org A Presentation at the International Workshop on Drought Assessment and Mitigation in South West Asia  Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7 –8 October 2004

    2. Drought events … are very widespread in Asia and the Pacific - from Afghanistan (persistent drought in the past six years) to the Pacific small island states (drought induced by El Nińo)

    3.

    5. Drought — future scenario Increased frequency and severity of meteorological droughts in some areas (due to climate change - seasonal and latitudinal shifts in precipitation; projected increase in frequency of El Nińo, which induces drought in many parts of the region; and due to air pollutants that may affect distribution of precipitation – so-called “atmospheric brown cloud”) Increased impacts associated with increased vulnerability Hence increasing risk

    6. Extreme Weather Events are Projected to Increase Point the regions where the warming will be greatestPoint the regions where the warming will be greatest

    7. The frequency, persistence and magnitude of El-Nińo events have increased in the last 20 years, and this trend is projected to continue.

    8. Above-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 Nińo.

    10. Drought Policy Very few developing countries have formulated drought preparedness and mitigation policies that are mainstreamed in national sustainable development plan and implemented, so as to build a society resilient to drought Progress on drought preparedness has been slow

    12. Regional Drought Preparedness Network for Asia and the Pacific UNESCAP, in partnership with UNDP, UN/ISDR, ADPC, UNCCD Secretariat and International Drought Information Center (IDIC) of University of Nebraska, USA, has been preparing a project proposal entitled “Regional Drought Preparedness Network for Asia and the Pacific”, to be funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

    13. Regional Drought Network Objectives To develop a regional cooperation mechanism relating to drought To facilitate development of drought early warning systems, preparedness plans, and integrated policies aimed at drought vulnerability and risk reduction Must be country-specific

    14. Regional Drought Preparedness Network Individually, many nations will be unable to improve drought coping and adaptive capacity. Collectively, through national, regional and global partnerships, we can share information and experiences to reduce the impacts of drought.

    15. Regional Drought Preparedness Network GOAL: To assist developing and least-developed countries in the region to 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, with a view to facilitating the development of an integrated drought policy that is incorporated into national sustainable development plan.

    16. An integrated drought policy …. is one that is based on sustainable use and management of natural resources (land, soil, forest, biodiversity, water, energy, etc.) in all socio-economic sectors (agriculture, industry, etc) for sustainable development.

    18. Phase I: Participating Countries Afghanistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Palau, Pakistan Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam have endorsed the proposed project China? India? Sri Lanka? Project planning meeting: December 2004?

    19. 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

    20. Planned Activities Project planning workshop (to be held in December 2004 or early January?) 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;

    21. Planned 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

    22. Planned 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

    23. Planned Activities 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. The project will build on existing national and regional activities

    24. Linkage 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.

    25. Linkage to UNCCD Subregional Programmes (SRAPs) and RAP SRAPs for West Asia and Central Asia (developed) Framework of SRAP for South Asia (developed) SRAPs for NE Asia, SE Asia and the Pacific (to be developed) Regional Action Programme (RAP) (2003-2008)

    26. Linkage to UNFCCC Climate change impacts (projected increase in frequency of extreme events, including drought) Adaptation plans (e.g. NAPA for LDCs)

    27. Partners of the proposed project UNESCAP: Executing Agency UNDP: GEF Implementing Agency UN/ISDR (UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) secretariat ADPC (Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre) UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) Secretariat IDIC (International Drought Information Centre), University of Nebraska, USA Research Centre on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction, Ministry of Water Resources, China (confirmed on 27 April 2004)

    28. Possible Funding Sources Global Environment Facility (GEF) (replenishment of US$2.92 billion for 2002-2006) New focal area on land degradation (linked to UNCCD) Targeted research linked to all focal areas (e.g., climate change, biodiversity, land degradation) See http://www.gefweb.org Under the UNFCCC, A special climate change fund Capacity-building; adaptation; technology transfer; mitigation; and economic diversification for countries highly dependent on income from fossil fuels; A least-developed countries fund Adaptation fund (collected from 2% of the CERs of each CDM project) Donor countries

    29. Acknowledgement Several slides used in this presentation are contributed by Professor Donald A. Wilhite, Director, National Drought Mitigation Center and International Drought Information Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA.

    30. Thank you for your kind attention!

More Related