The Latin American and Caribbean Region is highly susceptible to drought. Droughts occur all over LAC, and though they are common in all regions, the effects of drought are more severe in the drylands. In some countries, for example like Argentina and Mexico and several Caribbean nations, over 60 per cent of the
territory is classified as drylands. Overall, in most countries at least 20 per cent of the territory is classified
as drylands (UNESCO, 2010).

Drylands are home to 30 per cent of the population in South America, 23 per cent in North America and 25 per cent in Central America and the Caribbean (Reynolds et al. 2007). The climate of LAC is highly influenced by ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation), particularly in South America, Central America and the Caribbean, and in Mexico. The changes in sea surface temperatures of the tropical Atlantic also play an important role in the climate variability of the tropics.

The serious impacts of droughts are evident in all the countries in the region, from Mexico, through Central
America and the Caribbean, down to Argentina and Chile. Due to widespread poverty, the impacts of droughts are not only economic and environmental, but mostly social.

Rain-fed agriculture practiced by small farmers and indigenous groups is threatened in times of inadequate
rain. Water supply systems are overloaded, and the deficit of water available for human and animal consumption brings suffering to local populations.

The impacts of droughts can be significantly reduced through a shift from a crisis based, reactive and piece meal approach of emergency and recovery strategies to a more proactive and risk-based drought management approaches. With the aim of supporting countries towards building their capacities for developing such proactive and risk-based national drought management policies, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC). The initiative is meant to build the necessary capacity at national levels for countries to be able to develop and adopt comprehensive national drought management policies.