Geneva, 15 March, 2013 – A top-level United Nations conference has, for the first time, laid the foundations for practical and proactive national drought policies to increase resilience to the world’s most destructive natural hazard, which is being aggravated by climate change.The High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy marked the first globally-coordinated attempt to move towards science-based drought disaster risk reduction and break away from piecemeal and costly crisis-response, which often comes too late to avert death, displacement and destruction.The meeting issued a declaration encouraging governments to develop and implement national drought management policies consistent with their development objectives. It also provided detailed scientific and policy guidance on how to achieve this.“Prevention must be our priority,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in a message to delegates. “Nations need urgently to develop strategies for resilience — especially for the poor, who are always hit first and worst.”The meeting on 11-15 March was organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and other partners. It brought together more than 300 government decision-makers, development agencies, and leading scientists and researchers. His Excellency Brigi Rafini , Prime Minister of Niger, which has suffered from repeated droughts, chaired the high-level segment, which was addressed by more than 20 ministers. The Prince of Orange, chairman of the Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, gave a keynote speech on the need for integrated water management.“We have taken a major stride towards more proactive drought policies to protect lives and livelihoods. This is the first global dialogue on national drought policies and it has shown that we have the knowledge, we have the experience, and we have the determination to reduce the unacceptably high human and economic toll of drought,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
Better drought management is one of the priorities of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) now being implemented by governments with support from the United Nations. Climate services aim to increase drought resilience by improving climate information and services, especially for the most vulnerable. They will build on fast improving climate prediction capabilities.The GFCS aims to give global access to improved services for four initial priority sectors – food security and agriculture, water, health and disaster risk reduction – by the end of 2017.Outcomes of the high-level meeting will also be transmitted to the UNCCD Conference of Parties to be held in September 2013. Its last Conference in 2011 took a decision to formulate an advocacy policy framework on drought, taking gender-sensitive approaches into account.