News & stories

The establishment of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG) on Drought is welcome news. This new inter-governmental process has immense value addition to the immediate positive outcomes of saving lives, livestock, rangelands and livelihoods in case of drought. It will improve major drought driven insecurity in some of the world’s most fragile areas by strengthening policy actions and improving coordination during implementation.

The launch of the new UNCCD interactive Drought Toolbox became the highlight of the day, offering country parties a practical interactive platform to develop national drought plans and switch to a proactive approach to drought management.

In September 2019, at the 14th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNCCD, Parties decided to establish an intergovernmental working group (IWG), on effective policy and implementation measures for addressing drought under the UNCCD. The COP also invited Parties, international organizations, and stakeholders to make submissions on: (a) Policy, implementation and institutional coordination frameworks and implementation measures for addressing drought under the Convention: and (b) Barriers, challenges, opportunities and implementation measures in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from drought. Further the COP requested the UNCCD secretariat to create an inventory of existing drought-related tools, with the aim to share this information with all Parties.

On this page, you can download the agenda and presentations of the Drought Toolbox Validation Workshop held in Antalya, Türkiye, 2-4 May 2019. Workshop agenda Opening overview and agenda Session 1: Development/Implementation of National Drought Plans Why national drought plans? Overview of developing National Drought Plans; How does it work? Criteria and institutional requirements, etc. Daniel Tsegai [UNCCD] UNCCD: Drought Initiative; National Drought Plans & Beyond Robert Stefanski/Frederik Pischke [WMO/GWP] Development and Implementation of National Drought Plans Session 2: Drought Toolbox - Pillar 1 Early Warning and Monitoring Systems [Robert Stefanski/Frederik Pischke, WMO/GWP] IDMP Drought Monitoring and Early Warning Systems FAO’s Perspectives on Early Warning and Monitoring Systems [Maher Salman/Yo Nishimura, FAO] FAO’s Perspective on Early Warning and Monitoring Systems UNEP-DHI Portal on Drought Monitoring & Early Warning - Background [Bertrand Richaud, UNEP-DHI] UNEP-DHI Portal Drought Monitoring & Early Warning Hands-on exercise on relevant features of the Drought portal [Bertrand Richaud, UNEP-DHI]  Step By Step Exercise Rainfall Data Rainfall Index Soil moisture index Vegetation index Socioeconomic data Reporting Session 3: Drought Toolbox - Pillar 2 Vulnerability Assessment – Perspectives from FAO [Maher Salman/Yo Nishimura] Vulnerability Assessment Perspectives from FAO Vulnerability Assessment/IDMP/Drought Impact Reporters [Robert Stefanski/Frederik Pischke, WMO/GWP] IDMP Vulnerability Assessment and Drought Impact Reporters Drought Impact and Vulnerability Assessment (UNCCD, Caroline King-Okumu) UNCCD IDMP: Drought Impact & Vulnerability Assessment  Session 4: Drought Toolbox- Pillar 3 FAO’s Drought Risk Mitigation Tools from the field - [Maher Salman/Yo Nishimura, FAO] FAO Drought Risk Mitigation Measures Drought Risk Mitigation Measures - IDMP, etc. [Robert Stefanski/Frederik Pischke, WMO/GWP] IDMP Drought Risk Mitigation Measures Decision Tree on Risk Mitigation Measures/best practices [Jeroen van Dalen, UNCCD]  UNCCD Risk Mitigation Measures/Best Practices

The First UNCCD Capacity Building Training Fair was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) in Georgetown, Guyana. The Training Fair was specifically designed to address the main issues that the UNCCD focuses on, and to strengthen the capacities of the Parties so that they can undertake actions to tackle these challenges. One of the main objectives of this first Fair was to help decision-makers and UNCCD stakeholders increase their capacities both individually and institutionally. The Training Fair ran for two days, 25th and 26th of January 2019, and covered four main areas namely, Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), Drought, issues of Gender and Stand and Dust Storms (SDS). It began with an opening session chaired by the coordinator of the event, UNCCD’s Capacity Building Officer Dr. Richard A. Byron-Cox. Participants were welcomed by Mr. Trevor L. Benn, Guyana’s Commissioner of Lands and UNCCD National Focal Point, and heard a brief address from UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary, Mr. Pradeep Monga. The fair was declared officially opened by Honourable Rupert Roopnarine, Minster with responsibility for Public Service of Guyana.