The FAO Drought Portal
The FAO Drought Portal collates tools, methodologies, publications and best practices from different disciplines, with the aim to support informed decision making and promote integrated drought management in agriculture.
The resources are organized along four pillars:
1. Drought monitoring and early warning systems;
2. Vulnerability and risk assessment;
3. Drought risk mitigation measures;
4. Emergency response and relief measures.
The pillars are based on the outcomes of the High-Level Meeting on National Drought Policies, complemented with a fourth pillar on Emergency response and relief measures, where FAO actively supports countries.
As drought is a complex phenomenon impacting human livelihoods and environment, FAO cooperates with partners to build synergies and provide support to countries on drought preparedness. FAO cooperates in the framework of the Drought Initiative, led by United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with FAO, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with the aim to support countries to develop and strengthen their national drought plans.
1. Drought monitoring and early warning systems
Declaring a drought at the right time is essential to reduce the devastating impact on lives and livelihoods. Drought monitoring and Early Warning Systems (EWS) are essential, on one side, to provide information and thus reduce the effects of drought; and, on the other side, to respond efficiently to drought events. Effective drought early warning systems integrate precipitation and other climatic parameters with water information such as stream flow, groundwater levels, reservoir and lake levels, and soil moisture that are presented in a comprehensive assessment of current and future drought to allow in time evaluation of potential risks.
2. Vulnerability and impact assessment
Vulnerability to drought depends on a number of social, economic, and environmental factors that may increase or decrease the susceptibility of a system to the impacts of drought. Examples are the availability of groundwater resources that may compensate the decrease in rainfall or the existence of artificial reservoirs.
Amongst different indicators, vulnerability assessments should include: (i) a record of drought impacts on vulnerable economic sectors; (ii) potential reasons for vulnerability and conditions that impact the resistance of a system to drought; (iii) the degree or extent of potential damage or loss in the event of a drought; (iv) the evaluation of coping capacity of communities affected by drought.
3. Drought risk mitigation measures
Drought risk mitigation comprise a set of measures and actions finalized at reducing the susceptibility of a system to the impacts of drought. The measures can be subdivided into long-term, medium-term or short-term options. Long-term measures are generally comprised in the development strategies of the concerned sectors. Medium-term measures are timely implemented before, during and after drought. Emergency response measures are implemented when a drought occurs to immediately respond to basic needs of the population affected.
4. Emergency response and relief measures
In recent years, droughts resulted in some of the most high-profile humanitarian disasters, which threatened the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. The increasing frequency of drought episodes and the disruption of rainfall patterns in conjunction with a series of economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities exacerbated the devastating effect on at-risk populations. When communities are hit by drought, it is crucial to provide immediate support. Some emergency interventions include, for example, cash transfer mechanisms (like cash-for-work) that are implemented to provide the drought-affected population with a direct source of cash.
