November 22, 2013
US launches National Drought Resilience Partnership to combat drought
The Obama Administration announced an interagency National Drought Resilience Partnership to help communities better prepare for future droughts and reduce the impact of drought events on livelihoods and the economy.
The National Drought Resilience Partnership will make it easier to access Federal drought resources, and will help link information such as monitoring, forecasts, outlooks, and early warnings with longer-term drought resilience strategies in critical sectors such as agriculture, municipal water systems, energy, recreation, tourism and manufacturing in response to requests from communities, businesses, and farmers and ranchers.
The Partnership in its first year, will focus on creating a new, web-based portal to ease access to Federal agency drought recovery resources, hosting more frequent regional drought outlook forums that provide access to experts and locally relevant information, supporting the coordination of a national soil moisture monitoring network to help improve monitoring and forecasting drought conditions, and identifying a single point of contact for the public. In collaboration with local, state and regional governments, the Partnership will also undertake a pilot project in a western area hard hit by drought to create a local-scale drought resilience plan that could be applied in other areas.
"Last year, the worst drought in generations devastated farms and ranches across the nation, and the Obama Administration took every possible measure to help," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. He also noted the importance of increased partnership to increase drought resilience at a time when climate change is projected to increase the intensity and the number of drought events that impact agriculture.
Climate change influences the frequency and intensity of events such as droughts, storms, floods, and wildfires, impacting communities nationwide. The National Drought Resilience Partnership follows President Obama''s November First Executive Order on "Preparing the US for the Impacts of Climate Change," a key step under his Climate Action Plan that created a Task Force of state, local and tribal leaders to advise the Administration on steps the Federal Government can take to help communities increase preparedness, and committed Federal agencies to examining their programmes and policies to make it easier for states and communities to build resilience against storms, droughts and other weather extremes. The Partnership also builds on existing federal efforts and the White House Rural Council''s work to help communities, farmers, ranchers and producers stay resilient in the face of disaster.
Spearheaded by the USDA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), members of the National Drought Resilience Partnership will coordinate the delivery of Federal Government policies, programmes, information and tools designed to help communities plan for and respond to drought. Other partners in this effort include the Department of the Interior, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy.
About two-thirds of the continental US was affected by drought in 2012, impacting water supply, tourism, transportation, and near shore fisheries, with an estimated US$30 billion in losses to the agriculture sector alone, and an additional US$1 billion in losses from wildfires.
As part of White House Rural Council efforts, USDA chaired a National Disaster Recovery Framework effort to help communities respond to the 2012 drought, including hosting four regional listening forums to hear from communities directly. The National Integrated Drought Information System (NOAA/NIDIS), relying on its network of government agencies and organisations, conducted frequent national and regional drought outlooks around the country, and convened a National Drought Forum in partnership with Governors in Washington, DC in December 2012 to help provide new information and coordination to enhance the nation''s drought readiness. The partnership announced today is one important outcome of these drought forums and continues the Obama Administration''s commitment to helping communities get the drought assistance they need.