An international observatory that allows countries to measure their level of drought resistance was today presented at the UN summit on drought and desertification taking place in Mongolia.
Through interactive maps, governments and technicians will be able to explore scientific data, identify vulnerabilities, and set priorities when designing prevention policies.
The tool, presented by the International Alliance for Drought Resilience, centralizes scientific information in four areas — natural environment, economies, built environment and communities.
During the presentation, the Director-General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification of Spain, Maria Jesús de Sancho, emphasized that the observatory aims to “provide better information, solid evidence and practical tools to move from reactive crisis management to proactive resilience”.
Driven by Spain and Senegal, which co-chair the International Alliance for Drought Resilience, the project had the collaboration of experts from the European Commission, the World Meteorological Organization and Yale University in the United States.
In today’s session of the summit, an investment fund for drought resilience was also launched.
According to the United Nations (UN), drought has increased by 30% worldwide since 2000 and will affect three out of four people by 2050.
The 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP17) runs until Saturday in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
