Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe
Need for regional and national drought policies
In recent years, drought planning has been moving from a crisis management approach, based on national or regional drought emergency programmes, to a risk management approach, based on the development of comprehensive, long-term drought preparedness policies and plans of actions intended to significantly reduce the risks of, and vulnerabilities to, extreme weather events.
In response, in 2013, the Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE) initiated the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP CEE) within the framework of the joint, global GWP/WMO Integrated Drought Management Programme. The scope of this programme is “to support stakeholders at all levels by providing them with policy and management guidance through the globally coordinated generation of scientific information and sharing best practices and knowledge for integrated drought management”.
Drought in Central and Eastern Europe
In terms of water resources management and climate change adaptation, countries in Central and Eastern Europe are sensitive to variability and changing precipitation patters. Each time a drought occurs, many of the same issues are raised in the region, such as: How much damage was inflicted, on whom, and where? Who is going to pay for it? How can we prevent, or at least reduce damages and their costs in the future?
In February 2013, the IDMP CEE was launched with the involvement of over 40 organizations from 10 CEE countries. The primary beneficiaries of the IDMP CEE are government institutions and agencies responsible for developing drought management policies and/or implementing systems for drought monitoring and prediction and drought risk mitigation and response, at multiple time scales and regional, national and local spatial scales.
The secondary beneficiaries are decision makers and managers whose task is to implement these policies, including drought mitigation and adaptation.
From reactive to proactive drought management
The Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe (IDMP CEE) supports the governments of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine in the development of drought management policies and plans. It aims to build the capacity of stakeholders at different levels to use a proactive integrated drought management approach, and also tests innovative approaches for future drought management planning.
After the end of the 1st phase of the programme (2013-2015) special final publication was prepared, which provides an overview of the programme’s outputs and accomplishments achieved in the period from 2013 to 2015. In 2017 IDMP CEE started its 2nd phase which will last untill 2019. You can follow the programme on the official webpage.
Some of the IDMP CEE main outcomes so far:
Guidelines for preparation of the Drougth Management Plans
Guidelines on Natural Small Water Retertion Measures
Technical note on Drougth Risk Management Scheme
Briefing note on Agriculture drought monitoring with remote sensing data
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The IDMP CEE initiation of Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe is fully in line with some targets of EUSDR PA5. Therefore the EUSDR PA5 DTP PAC project also contains some activites related to IDMP CEE objectives in order to strengthen our synergies and to reach our common goals.
