‘Drought Is on Track to Hitting Three in Four People Globally by 2050’
Stockholm, September 2024 (UNCCD)* — Drought is on track to hitting three in four people globally by 2050. Around the world, scientists and practitioners have amassed a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to drought.
Myth 4: Gray infrastructure is the answer to drought
According to panelists, drought resilience depends on good policies and incentives, supported by targeted investments and a mix of low- and high-level technologies adapted to each context.
Such policies must consider nature-based solutions, instead of relying solely on gray infrastructures like dams and water cisterns.
A recent TNC report, for example, analyzed which parts of the world face a growing risk of drought and flooding across in the next two decades. What it found is that nature is key to reducing these risks in more than one third of those locations.
“When implemented at scale and in the right places, nature-based solutions can support healthy hydrological systems that naturally store water and slowly release it in drier times, building the resilience of ecosystems and communities,” explained Kari Vigerstol, director of Water Security Science and Innovation at The Nature Conservancy.
The expert also urged decision-makers to take into account both blue water —found in lakes, rivers, and reservoirs— and green water —available in the soil for plants and soil microorganisms—, as well as surface and underground water.
The latter tends to be neglected and overexploited, and there are few collaborative management agreements for transboundary aquifers.
Finally, she made a case for involving water users in the management of the resource at all times, not only when the impacts of drought reach societies and economies, and pointed at the importance of weather forecasting, early warning systems, and technologies to enhance water efficiency in agriculture and reuse water.
Myth 5: Business can continue as usual
All countries can better prepare to coexist with drought and, according to UNCCD’s Tsegai, the political momentum has never been higher. Especially, in the lead up to UNCCD COP16, the largest UN land and drought summit to date, which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2 to 13 December.
At COP16, the 197 parties to the Convention will discuss, among others a global drought resilience framework, drawing on valuable inputs: the policy recommendations of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG) on Drought, established by the previous COP; the outcomes of the Drought Resilience+10 Conference (30 September-2 October, Geneva), focused on drought policy implementation; the insights from IDRA members and allies; and the lessons countries have learned by participating in regional and global communities of practice.
The summit in Riyadh will be crucial in fostering a new drought management regime of a global nature, and securing high-level political commitment to drought resilience in the lead up to 2030 and beyond.
For the UNCCD expert, the key components needed for countries to plan for drought, rather than simply respond to it, are there: the science, the economic case, the practical success examples, and the technical support.
“The next step is to get the governance, financing, and implementation wheels in motion. I am hopeful that countries will rise to the challenge and use every means at their disposal in the upcoming international fora to correct, once and for all, the course of drought management,” he concluded.
*SOURCE: UNCCD. Go to ORIGINAL: https://www.unccd.int/news-stories/stories/five-drought-myths-experts-say-must-be-shattered
Source: https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2024/10/09/254432/
