Asia Community

Regional Workshop on Validation of Drought Risk Management and Mitigation Strategy for South Asia and Capacity Development

Colombo, Sri Lanka – September 9, 2024 - South Asia is highly vulnerable to drought and its impact on key sectors like agriculture, water, and hydro-power generation. In response to the growing risks posed by drought, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), in partnership with the Ministry of Environment of Sri Lanka hosted a four-day Regional Workshop on Drought Risk Management and Mitigation. The primary focus of the workshop is to present the comprehensive regional strategy for drought risk management and mitigation while building the capacities of participants by sharing the latest advancements in drought risk management techniques.

Held at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo from September 9 to September 12, 2024, the workshop brings together policymakers and decision-makers from across the South Asia region, including participants from Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. International and regional experts from renowned institutions, including Global Water Partnership (GWP), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), University of Nebraska (USA), Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (Nepal) and SAARC Agriculture Centre actively participated in the event. These experts contributed by sharing their extensive knowledge and experiences in drought management, water conservation, and sustainable development. The workshop served as a platform for South Asian nations to collaborate on creating a more resilient and sustainable approach to tackling drought and its far-reaching impacts on the region's economy and society.

Read more: https://www.adpc.net/igo/contents/Media/media-news.asp?pid=1958

Historical drought assessment using freely available satellite datasets in South Asia. We have analysed monthly drought from 2000 to 2020 in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sikkim part of India.
https://www.apn-gcr.org/bulletin/article/historical-drought-and-its-tre…

GENDER RESPONSIVE TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT

Fantastic opportunity! a few spaces still left

The UNCCD Gender Action Plan (GAP) emphasizes the critical importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment in implementing the Convention. A key priority of the GAP is to increase women’s access to relevant knowledge and technologies. To fulfill these objectives, UNCCD and the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) joined forces in 2020 to advance gender-responsive Sustainable Land Management (SLM).

This collaboration between UNCCD and WOCAT focuses on documenting, analyzing and scaling gender-responsive SLM practices by gathering gender-disaggregated data. A specialized tool, co-designed with gender and SLM experts, identifies gender-based parameters as well as the technical and socio-cultural factors that enhance the adoption of SLM by both women and men.

In the initial phase of the project in 2021, WOCAT network partners in 15 countries tested the tool, showing promising results. As the Pambadeniya Women Group from Sri Lanka noted, “Women and men debated on how to guarantee equal opportunities in decision making, participation and fair distribution of benefits.” The data demonstrated that equal access to SLM technologies and approaches is both context- and technology-specific. Five technology group profiles on gender-responsive SLM were developed to show the need for further action.

Building on this success and following Decision 24/COP.15, UNCCD and WOCAT are now launching a call for expressions of interest to apply the gender-responsive SLM tool. This initiative aims to gather more country-specific gender-disaggregated data on SLM practices, which will be presented at the upcoming UNCCD COP16 in Ryiadh, Saudi Arabia, this December.

We are inviting up to 40 stakeholders to implement the gender-responsive SLM tool in local contexts from September to November 2024. Applications are welcome from UNCCD Parties, civil society organizations, WeCaN members and others involved in sustainable land management.

The application deadline is 4 August 2024. Submissions are accepted in English, French and Spanish. For more details on the call, application requirements, and the online application form, please see our website: https://www.unccd.int/news-stories/stories/unccd-stakeholders-worldwide…

Join us in "Innovative Solutions for Water Secure World and Sustainable Development" Webinar #5 Series online:

Date: 6 June 2024
Time: 2 PM Jakarta
Link: https://bit.ly/JOINSD5

The webinar series will focus on #LearningExchanges from *Global Rainwater Management Program*, an innovation to manage the abundant natural water resources such as rain as part of climate change adaptation, led by Devram International, a partner of Global Water Partnership and will be hosted by GWP-SEA Regional Secretariat.