UNESCO's water family
Resources
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| Title |
Integrated drought management: Lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa. Proceedings of the International Conference, Pretoria, South Africa, 20-22 September 1999
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| Series |
Technical Documents in Hydrology
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| Serial Number |
N° 35
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| Authors |
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| Publication Date |
2000
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| Abstract |
Drought is an insidious natural hazard that is a normal part of the climate of virtually all regions and is strongly associated with many of the Sub-Saharan African countries. It should not be viewed as merely a physical phenomenon. Rather, drought is the result of an interplay between a natural event and the demand placed on water supply by human-use systems. Drought should be considered relative to some long-term average condition of balance between precipitation and evapotranspiration.
Previous responses to drought in Africa and most other countries have been, for the most part, reactive (i.e., crisis management). This approach has been demonstrated to be ineffective, poorly co-ordinated and untimely in all political and geographical settings; more importantly, it has done little to reduce the risks associated with drought. In fact, the economic, social and environmental impacts of drought have increased significantly in recent decades. A similar trend exists for all natural hazards.
Among the papers presented (by D. Wilhite, see credits below) was a revision of the planning process that has been used at all levels of government in the US and elsewhere to guide the development of a drought plan. The goal of this planning process is to derive a plan that is dynamic and incorporates greater emphasis on risk management and the adoption of appropriate mitigation actions. This approach is developed around the three primary components of a drought plan – monitoring and early warning; vulnerability and impact assessment; and mitigation and response. The steps included in this process are considered to be generic, enabling governments to choose those steps and components that are most applicable to their situation. With appropriate modifications, it is felt that this process could be helpful to many African countries in addressing issues associated with drought preparedness as an integral plart of planning for sustainable development.
(The above summary and conclusions were drawn from the keynote address by Donald Wilhite, Director of the International Drought Information Center and Professor at the School of Natural Resources Sciences, University of Nebraska, USA.)
(387 pp., figs., tables)
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| Availability |
Out of Print
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| Languages |
English
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| Price |
Free of Charge
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| Keywords |
integrated drought management, Sahelian drought, desertification, desert land reclamation, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Africa, arid and semi-arid zones, seasonal predictions, numerical rainfall predictions, climate variability, climate system monitoring and prediction, sustainable natural resource management
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