Landmark World Drought Atlas reveals systemic nature of hazard risks, underlines need for national plans, international cooperation

Riyadh [Saudi Arabia], December 3: As record-breaking droughts are becoming a new normal around the globe, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) launched the most comprehensive global publication on drought risks and solutions as an urgent wake-up call for world leaders and citizens.
The World Drought Atlas depicts the systemic nature of drought risks for both specialist and non-specialist audiences. Through dozens of maps, infographics, and case studies, it illustrates how drought risks are interconnected across sectors like energy, agriculture, river transport, and international trade and how they can trigger cascading effects, fueling inequalities and conflicts and threatening public health.
Co-produced with Cima Research Foundation (Italy), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and the UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security (Germany), its publication comes as UNCCD's 197 member states, meeting in Riyadh, negotiate how to build humanity's resilience to harsher droughts.
Droughts are one of the world's most costly and deadly hazards and are on track to affect 3 in 4 people globally by 2050. However, many countries and sectors are still failing to prepare for them through the right actions, policies, investments, and incentives.
"The World Drought Atlas challenges governments, business leaders, and policy makers at all levels to radically rethink how they make decisions and manage drought risk," said UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw. "I call on all nations, and in particular the Parties to the UNCCD, to take the findings of the Atlas seriously. At UNCCD COP16, Parties could change the course of history towards drought resilience. Let us seize the moment with the knowledge that the Atlas provides a path for a more resilient future for all."
The Atlas underscores the need for national drought plans and international cooperation to keep communities, economies, and ecosystems afloat in the face of harsher events. Additionally, it offers guidance for proactive and prospective drought management and adaptation across sectors and governance levels.
Drought impacts are typically less visible, and attract less attention, than sudden events like floods and earthquakes. That is particularly true for the effects on ecosystems, which tend to be neglected in national drought plans despite their crippling impacts on economies and communities. But fast-onset droughts, known as flash droughts, more intense droughts-and more readily apparent impacts-are also becoming commonplace.
Source: Emirates News Agency