climate change

Drought is a creeping disaster and a silent killer. It rolls back development gains and exacerbates poverty, especially in least developed countries.

Unfortunately, it does not receive the attention it deserves as it is not as immediate and dramatic as a typhoon or earthquake striking a city and wreaking havoc. It is no less deadly though: reduced water and food security; increased debt among farmers; deepening poverty with intergenerational consequences; loss of livelihoods; farmer suicides; and, potential unrest and violence. Between 1985 and 2013, 1.2 billion people were affected by drought, costing US$52 billion. Due to climate change, the frequency, severity and duration of droughts will likely be more serious in the future.

To address this, ESCAP’s Regional Drought Mechanism was launched to enhance the capacity of governments to use space-based data for effective drought monitoring and early warning. By utilizing cutting-edge technology, developing countries can monitor and respond to possible drought conditions before they spark a food crisis.

While progress has been made in drought mitigation in some countries, access to scientific information and knowledge remains a challenge for many. Providing timely, actionable and precise information on the potential for, duration and severity of drought is a critical gap in efficient drought mitigation. Taking action once drought has occurred is more costly and less effective than acting preemptively before the fact.

In order to save lives and livelihoods, time is of the essence. Signs of drought can be observed from space long before they are visible to the human eye on the ground. Therefore, space-based data is a vital complement to ground-based information in combating drought. However, a lack of resources and capacity to perform such analysis purveys in many drought-prone developing countries.

With the generous help of China and India, the Regional Drought Mechanism applies science and technology to support developing drought-prone countries in the Asia-Pacific region by enhancing access to space-based data, capacity building in how to utilize this data for preparedness and response, strengthening institutional coordination and policies at the country level and, developing regional and South-South cooperation support networks.

Advancing this initiative, ESCAP convened the first high-level meeting of the Regional Drought Mechanism in Sri Lanka, in July 2014. In partnership with the Arthur C Clarke institute for modern technologies, experiences were shared between four pilot countries: Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Myanmar and Cambodia in order to help establish coordination mechanisms across relevant ministries.

For more information on ESCAP’s Drought Mechanism, please email escap-idd@un.org or visit ESCAP - Monitoring Drought from Space.