Getting started

The Sand and Dust Storms Toolbox is here for anyone interested in understanding the nature and impact of sand and dust storms. The toolbox provides practical options to manage and mitigate these impacts. The toolbox assists users in finding the specific information needed for understanding and managing sand and dust storms.

The toolbox contains five modules:

• Mapping and monitoring SDS sources, which addresses how to know where sand and dust storms can originate. Knowing where sand and dust storms originate from is the first step in reducing their impact.
• Observation, monitoring, forecasting and early warning, which addresses knowing where sand and dust storms are developing, forecasting their timing and severity and providing early warning are all key to enabling those who are at risk to take action before they are affected by a storm.
• Risk and vulnerability assessment and mapping, which covers how to understand and map the risks to humans posed by sand and dust storms. Knowing who and how people are affected  is critical to targeting the right interventions to solve the most pressing problems caused by sand and dust storms.
• Source control and management, which addresses how to reduce the occurrence of storms at their point of origin. The toolbox provides a selection process to identify practical approaches to source control and management, leading to examples of actual control and management methodologies and projects.
• Impact mitigation, which addresses how to reduce or eliminate the impact of a sand and dust storm on those at risk, and covering agriculture, construction, education, electricity, health, hygiene, livestock, manufacturing, public awareness, sport and leisure, transport and water and sanitation.

The SDS Compendium provides the main outline for the toolbox. We expect that additional materials will be added to the toolbox over time, as experience is gained from the use of the toolbox and from increased efforts to manage sand and dust storms.