Asia Community

Thanks for Suyu's warm welcome! As a new member of this community, I'm delighted to briefly introduce myself: I'm an academic and practitioner in the field of urban and environmental planning, with an interest in nature/resources/water conservation. I've lived and worked for 40+ years in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, a part of the arid US Southwest region, and on daily basis encountered/crossed challenges and news about drought, heatwaves, wildfires, flash floods and other climate issues in this region and beyond. With my Chinese ethnic origin, growup in Taiwan, and work & travel experiences in several parts of Asian, including serving as a faculty member in Saudi Arabia and China, I'm glad to be here to share and learn with all of you in this community.

New insights on declining natural carbon sinks

A new study published in Nature highlights how climate change and land-use pressures are reducing the Earth’s ability to absorb CO₂. The findings show that natural land sinks are weakening, while tropical forests in Southeast Asia and South America are shifting from carbon sinks to carbon sources, a trend driven by warming, drought, and deforestation.

Understanding these changes is essential for effective climate and drought management strategies.

Join the conversation and explore how stronger land stewardship and climate-resilient practices can support global mitigation efforts.

👉 Learn more and connect with the CLP community:
https://lnkd.in/ey3rv9Ga

👉Read more:
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#UNCCDCLP #DroughtManagement #CommunityOfPractice #LearningCommunity #Desertification#LandDegradation #UNCCD
#Resilience #ClimateAdaptation #SustainableLandManagement #PeerLearning

This is an interesting article. Some people have the instinct that Pacific islands should have enough water due to their location (central in the ocean), but actually they also suffer from drought. This suggests that drought is indeed global and can affect all countries.

https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/13/9/172

Drought Monitoring to Build Climate Resilience in Pacific Island Countries
by Samuel Marcus, Andrew B. Watkins, andYuriy Kuleshov

Climate 2025, 13(9), 172; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli13090172
Submission received: 21 July 2025 / Revised: 20 August 2025 / Accepted: 22 August 2025 / Published: 26 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Global Warming and Extreme Drought)

Abstract: Drought is a complex and impactful natural hazard, with sometimes catastrophic impacts on small or subsistence agriculture and water security. In Pacific Island countries, there lacks an agreed approach for monitoring agricultural drought hazard with satellite-derived remote sensing data. This study addresses this gap through a framework for agricultural drought monitoring in the Pacific using freely available space-based observations. Applying World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) recommendations and a set of objective selection criteria, three remotely sensed drought indicators were chosen and combined using fuzzy logic to form a composite drought hazard index: the Standardised Precipitation Index, Soil Water Index, and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index. Each indicator represents a subsequential flow-on effect of drought on agriculture. The index classes geographic areas as low, medium, high, or very high levels of drought hazard. To test the drought hazard index, two case studies for drought in the western Pacific, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Vanuatu, are assessed for the 2015–2016 El Niño-related drought. Findings showed that at the height of the drought in October 2015, 58% of PNG and 72% of Vanuatu showed very high drought hazard, compared to 6% and 40%, respectively, at the beginning of the drought. The hazard levels calculated were consistent with conditions observed and events that were reported during the emergency drought period. Application of this framework to operational drought monitoring will promote adaptive capacity and improve resilience to future droughts for Pacific communities.

Hello Everyone,

I am Debashis Roy, and I am delighted to join this vibrant community of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working toward sustainable drought management in Asia. My research focuses on social–ecological systems (SES) modelling, particularly exploring the drought–food insecurity nexus. I am deeply interested in understanding how climate, ecosystems, and human systems interact under drought stress and how this knowledge can inform sustainable and equitable solutions.

I look forward to collaborating with fellow researchers, policymakers, and development practitioners to advance our shared goal of strengthening resilience to drought and enhancing food security across the region.

Warm regards,
Debashis Roy

Image source: The James Hutton Institute, UK

Changwon Initiative success stories

Changwon Initiative contributes to drought resilience, including its support to the UNCCD Drought Toolbox. The successful stories are very insightful!

https://www.unccd.int/resources/publications/changwon-initiative-succes…

Preparing for drought: Smarter solutions, real impact
https://www.unccd.int/news-stories/stories/preparing-drought-smarter-so…

https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3178
This is a socio-ecological-system model analyzing the drought-food insecurity nexus, developed based on the context of Bangladesh.
It corresponds to UNCCD and other stakeholders' emphasis on integrated drought management.
This is an open accessed publication (Roy et al. 2025).

Regional Training Workshop on “Implementation of Integrated Drought Management
(IDM): Challenges and Solutions

Main Virtual Workshop Link: https://unesco.adobeonline.ir/comprehensive_drought_management/