Climate Resilience for Agriculture: Drought Management

Droughts in 2014 in the Middle East and in 2016 in North Africa once again brought losses of life, and millions of dollars of economic devastation. Managing the impacts of drought is complex with challenges ranging from the provision of disaster relief to responsibilities and governance across agencies to financing activities. Droughts are predicted to increase under climate change in the MENA region and the countries in the region are generally poorly prepared for droughts with little climate change adaptation in place.

Whilst monitoring and early warning systems are possible, they require a sometimes difficult marriage between a) earth observation and dynamic modeling and b) user communities at both policy and field levels. With predicted increases in drought in some of the world’s major crop production areas, including those in the MENA, it is important that the challenges and possibilities are explored to support water and food security initiatives. MENA is a known climate hotspot and already vulnerable to water shortages. It is also highly dependent on food imports to meet its consumption needs. Predicting and managing droughts can have a major impact on agricultural adaptation to climate change. The event will bring together regional experts from various agricultural disciplines to reflect on how improved drought management would impact their work.