The ISDR aims to build disaster resilient communities by promoting increased awareness of the importance of disaster reduction as an integral component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards and related technological and environmental disasters. Its mandate is to be involved, in close collaboration with other relevant UN agencies and international, regional and national institutions, in efforts to reduce the impacts of disasters, including those associated with drought.

Drought is considered to be an extreme climatic event. Often described as a natural hazard , it does not, by itself, trigger an emergency. Whether it becomes an emergency depends on its impact on local people. That, in turn, depends upon their vulnerability to such a 'shock'. Drought results in substantial impacts in both developing and developed countries, although the characteristics of these impacts differ considerably. The ability to cope with drought also varies from country to country and from one region, community or population group to another.

Vulnerability to drought is complex. It can be defined as 'a set of conditions and processes resulting from physical, social, economical, and environmental factors, which increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazards’ . Understanding this vulnerability is essential to the design of drought preparedness, mitigation and relief policies and programmes.

In the area of drought preparedness and mitigation, there are a number of coordinated and collaborative initiatives that have been, and could in the future, be undertaken within the ISDR framework. The recently established Ad-Hoc Discussion Group on Drought, comprising representatives from key global, regional and technical institutions, identified a number of focus areas .

Inter- and intra-regional partnerships
Collaboration and networking between regional and international actors ensure management of drought is possible. Such cooperation includes sharing responsibilities and resources and communicating best practices and lessons learned in drought monitoring, prediction, vulnerability assessment, preparedness, as well as policy development.

Information, education and public awareness
Essential to reducing vulnerability and risk to drought is raising policymakers’ and the public’s awareness through education programmes and accessible information. Promotion of scientific research to further understand the principal causes of drought and the consequent dissemination of drought planning methodologies, risk assessment tools and relevant information materials are also important.

Traditional knowledge
Local people have a great deal of knowledge about their environment, with indigenous coping methods well adapted to their local conditions. It is vital that such practices are protected, integrated, enhanced and applied at the grassroots as well as national and regional levels. In many cases, these prove to be more sustainable than short-term solutions dealing solely with drought response.

Integration into national and regional policies
By promoting the development of drought management policies, a range of sectors impacted by drought can join together in reducing communities’ vulnerability. People-centred policies that emphasise monitoring and early warning, risk assessment, mitigation, and response are an essential part of preparedness. These should be complemented by the effective dissemination of drought-related information to end users, in addition to an open dialogue with communities allowing participatory consultation and feedback.

The ISDR combines the strengths of many key players through the Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction (IATF/DR) and the Inter-Agency Secretariat for the ISDR (UN/ISDR).

The IATF/DR is the principal body for the development of disaster reduction policy. Headed by the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, it consists of 25 UN, international, regional and civil society organisations. It discusses issues of relevance such as climate variability, early warning, vulnerability and risk analysis, wildland fires and drought.

The UN/ISDR is the focal point in the UN System which promotes links and synergies between, and the coordination of, disaster reduction activities in the socio-economic, humanitarian and development fields, as well as supporting policy integration and serving as an international information clearinghouse on disaster reduction.

For further information, please refer to: www.unisdr.org

2003 World Disaster Reduction Campaign

1) Wilhite, D.A. 2000. 'Drought as a Natural Hazard: Concepts and Definitions,' (Chapter 1). In: D.A. Wilhite (ed.) Drought: A Global Assessment (Volumes 1 and 2). Routledge Publishers, London.

2) UN/ISDR. 2002. Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives (Preliminary version)., Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Geneva.

3) UN/ISDR. 2003. Living with Risk: An integrated approach to reducing societal vulnerability to drought. Ad-Hoc Discussion Group on Drought, Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction , Geneva.