Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

and certainly, at European scale there are some conspicuous deficiencies. At
European scale the EU lags behind other industrialized countries in policy, planning
and operational aspects. These deficiencies in turn affect the competitiveness of
European industry.
In the USA, a national Drought Policy sets the framework within which individual
states develop and implement Drought Plans. There are integrated US national
drought forecasting and monitoring activities that provide real time information to
states for local enhancement, and to sector interests for enhancement for specific
sectoral applications.
Figure V.B.5. On-line products from US National Drought Monitoring Centre
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/current.html
This process has produced a significant improvement in drought preparedness
through benchmarking and sharing of best practices at state level. At national level,
improved drought related analysis and response tools have been developed, spurred
on by more informed demands from the states and different sectors. Similar national
Drought Policies have recently been adopted in Australia and South Africa, with
responsibility for development and implementation of Drought Plans at state level.
Pan-European forecasting and monitoring
Reducing the economic, social and environmental impact of future droughts will
require reliable and useable information (through forecasting and monitoring) to be
provided to policy makers, water managers and citizens. Research projects within
the EU’s 4 th and 5 th Framework Programmes have developed and demonstrated
operational, real-time drought monitoring across the EU. Prototype communication
tools have delivered this information through open access web portals. Several
southern European web portals currently provide a range of information on
conditions relating to, or affected by, drought extent and severity. These actions on
drought forecasting, monitoring and mitigation in the Mediterranean region need to
be developed, improved and extended to other parts of Europe. The establishment,
in 2004, of a European Drought Centre – a virtual centre of expert groups and
organizations working in drought research or management – is a very welcome
initiative. Much can be gained by capitalizing on and adapting international best
practice approaches to minimize drought impacts and by the development of more
generic decision support systems. Coordinated action is required to bring these
resources together, share expertise and strengthen Europe’s resilience to future
droughts at the level of citizens, the river basin, nationally and at EU level.
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