A major conference on drought and desertification has held a special Drought Day to emphasize the need to switch from a piecemeal, reactive crisis-driven approach to a proactive risk management approach.
““Drought is a major obstacle to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 15. We need to move faster in our fight against drought. Let us dust this villain, and mitigate climate change,” said Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in his opening remarks at the Drought Preparedness Day on 11 September.
The UNCCD secretariat dedicated the tenth day of the Conference of the Parties (COP14) to focus on the success and challenges of the current tools, methodologies and policies that support drought preparedness across the globe.
WMO was one of the co-organizers of the event, alongside UNCCD, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP).
Speakers at the Drought Day emphasized the need to shift from a reactive crisis driven approach to proactive drought risk management policies. “We need to prepare, predict, plan together to stop drought becoming famine. One actor…
