Integrated drought management in central and eastern Europe

By Sabina Bokal and Richard Müller, of the Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe.
Water scarcity and droughts are not just matters of concern for water managers. They have direct impacts on the citizens and economic sectors that use and depend on water, such as agriculture, tourism, industry, energy and transport. Water scarcity and droughts also have broader impacts on natural resources at large such as through biodiversity, water quality, increased risks of forest fires and soil impoverishment. But how can such a complex natural phenomena be managed? Drought management is currently reactive, dealing mainly with losses and damages.
Cooperation among key actors is missing, and formal legislation mostly does not exist. In 2013, at the High-Level Meeting on Drought Policies, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and WMO launched a joint Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP).
Its main mission is to move from reactive to proactive drought management, focusing on drought prevention, mitigation, vulnerability reduction, planning and preparedness. Shortly after, in February 2013, the GWP Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) office launched a regional implementation of the IDMP.
The IDMP CEE[3] supports the Governments of Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine in the development of drought management policies and plans. It is structured to provide both policy advice and practical solutions in drought management, and focuses on an integrated approach rather than fragmented solutions. Over 40 organizations from the 10 countries are involved. This article highlights the main achievements of the first phase (2015–2017) of the regional implementation and shows the direction of the second phase (2017–2019).
Here the full article.