Presentation made by Dr. Elena Mateescu, Executive Director of National Meteorological Administration, GWP Consulting Partners Meeting, 26. August 2012, Stockholm, Sweden

1. CONSULTING PARTNERS MEETING 2012
Workshop One
WMO/GWP Integrated Drought Management
Programme
(CEE component)
Prof.dr Janusz Kindler – TF Leader, GWP Poland
Dr. Elena Mateescu – GWP Romania
Dr. Danka Thalmeinerova - GWPO

2. 10 EU states
2 non-EU
states
8 from Da-
nube basin
Region: Cz, Sk,
Hu, Sl, Ro, Bg,
Mo, Ua
4 from Baltic
Sea Region :
Pl, Lt, Lv, EE

3. Population of 152 million people, a quarter of all Europeans
Total area, over 2.03 mill. km2
12 countries, 4 in the Baltic and 8 in the Danube regions
Baltic region: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland
Danube region: Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Moldova,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine

4. Introduction to drought management problems
In the past few decades it has become evident that several European countries are
affected by droughts which are becoming more and more long lasting and severe.
Regions in central and southern Europe which already suffer most from water
stress are projected to be particularly vulnerable to reductions in water resources
due to climate change.
Observed changes in
annual precipitation
between 1961-2006
Source: EEA (2008)

5. CLIMATE CHANGE - PERSPECTIVES
In Europe, a mean annual air temperature A 10...30% decrease of the annual
increase of 2...4,5 C is foreseen by the end of the precipitation amounts is estimated in the
century, function of the scenarios of green house southern part of Europe, and even higher
gas emissions. values in the north are expected.
(Source: IPCC SRES scenarios A2, EEA/2007) (IPCC 4AR, Working Group I, 2007).

6. Inception Report
1. Summary (consolidation of various reports) on drought
situation and the related risks
2. Mapping current policies regarding drought
monitoring and management
3. Rationale for the IDMP: a cooperation of GWP and
WMO
4. National and regional GWP CEE component proposed
for GWP/WMO IDMP Programme
5. Conclusions and recommendations for the IDMP
Initiative

7. The participating countries
 Slovenia
 Romania
 Bulgaria
 Hungary
 Ukraine
 Slovakia
 Poland
 Lithuania

8. Drought situation and related risks
• Recent severe and prolonged droughts have highlighted CEE’s (especially the
South-eastern parts of the region) vulnerability to this natural hazard that can
have severe consequences on the people living in drought-prone areas through
their impact on water scarcity, land degradation, agricultural production and
human and ecosystems degradation.
• Climate variability is high in the CEE region both temporally and spatially. In
addition, climate change already amplifies the frequency and severity of
droughts.
• The most vulnerable sector to drought-related losses is the agriculture, but in
the severe drought situation shortages, water supply to population and
industry may also be affected.

9. Drought situation and related risks
– national overview -
Slovenia Hungary
Bulgaria
Agricultural drought in summer 2003 Drought risk zones
Annual precipitation (mm)
Ukraine
Romania
Poland
Crop yields in dry (2003) and non-dry
(2008) years
Areas affected by drought
Spatial distribution of water deficit
in 1992 year

10. Mapping current policies regarding drought
monitoring and management
• In the CEE countries, the policies of drought monitoring and management are
needed due to the regional/local character of drought phenomenon:
• for improvement and better coordination of national policies regarding
the preparedness and drought impact mitigation;
• for the development of an integrated approach based on common
methodologies and vulnerability assessments of various sectors to
drought occurrence, spatial extension, intensity and duration.
• The drought monitoring is based especially on:
• meteorological and hydrological observation systems;
• agro-meteorological measurements and drought warning systems.
• All countries of the CEE region need to improve their both short-term and
long-term responses across sectors to meteorological, agricultural and
hydrological droughts.

11. Rationale for the Integrated Drought Management Programme
The GWP CEE recognizes the important issue of serious eco-social
problems caused by drought and wants to contribute to the Integrated
Drought Management Programme (IDMP) of WMO/GWP.
At the Consultation Meeting on the proposed IDMP held at WMO in
Geneva, November 2010 the participants unanimously agreed to the
following principles:
1. Proactive approaches must have priority over reactive approaches
2. Definition of drought risk: Risk = Hazard * Vulnerability.
3. Drought hazard can be recognized by scientific analysis
4. There is a necessity of horizontal and vertical integration over all sectors impacted by
drought.
Consultations continue: June 2012, Geneva

12. National and regional GWP CEE component
proposed for IDMP Programme
Four categories of national and regional GWP CEE initiatives are proposed for IDMP:
1. Drought preparedness measures (investment and non-investment measures, like for
example drought insurance systems);
2. Enhancement (and/or development) of drought monitoring and early warning systems;
3. Development of capacity building programs for water managers and farmers;
4. Development of case studies to document good practices in application of integrated
drought management
• including transboundary basins,
• including land and water management according with UNCCD recommended practices to
avoid desertification

13. Conclusions
The outputs of IDMP initiative are:
1. Knowledge base on recorded practices in drought
planning and management;
2. Guidance on tools and institutional arrangements to
support increased risk responses;
3. Advocacy through regional and country dialogues;
4. Improved early drought warning services, building upon
existing regional initiatives.

14. Going step by step:
• Regional workshop:
– To consult with the key stakeholders main features of the IDM Programme (such
as: DMCSEE, the European Drought Centre (EDC), national secretariats of
UNCCD of all CEE countries , UNECE and its Task Force on Climate Change
Adaptation)
– To seek an appropriate mechanism and cooperation with agriculture sector at
national levels;
• Need to consider:
– How to utilize a program potential to replicate this initiative in other signatory
UNECE countries (specifically those in Med, Central Asia and Caucasus, where
GWP has also its partners).
• Integrated Drought Management Platform :
– a web-based tool to share information
– roadmap to implement regional approaches and action plans
– mutual exchange of knowledge & methodologies, and downscaling products in
order to support national level drought policies and planning processes

15. From GWP CEE Workplan 2012……
…. In addition to Mapping study and Regional Workshop…..
GWP CEE will
Implementation of the regional study on “Increasing soil water holding capacity; an
example of best practice in drought mitigation”. This study was proposed by CWP
Slovakia and deals with measures to increase soil water holding capacity as key
attribute of soil quality. The target group is agriculture sector and the estimated
budget of the project is 15,000 EUR.

16. Thank you!
janusz.kindler@is.pw.edu.pl
mateescu.elena@gmail.com
danka.thalmeinerova@gwp.org