The Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Soils and Water Management (DA-BSWM) is the Philippines’ representative  to the Global Workshop on Drought Vulnerability and Impact Assessment held at Imperial College, London on June 18-20, 2024. The Workshop is part of the enabling activities for implementing drought decisions by country parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. 

Participated in by several countries and organizations around the world, the Conference aims to foster a proactive strategy to drought management to replace the conventional reactive approach which was previously used by most countries. The Workshop was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Grantham Institute of Climate Change and the Environment of Imperial College London. Aside from the Philippines, the meeting was also attended by Grenada, Cape Verde, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Montenegro, Sri Lanka, Paraguay, Global Water Partnership, the Joint Research Center of the European Community and the FAO Office for the Near East and North Africa. 

The conduct of the workshop emerged from the need to improve methodologies on drought impact and vulnerability assessments. In the review by FAO of previously prepared National Drought Plans, the drought impacts and vulnerability assessments of the Philippines was appraised as exceptional. For this reason, Engr. Alberto was requested to present the best practices of the Philippines in drought planning and management during the conference. 

In view of the worsening impacts and more frequent occurrence of droughts worldwide, UNCCD is supporting efforts to operationalize national drought plans in accordance with the principles of integrated drought management. Thus, FAO provided guidance, tools and approaches for assessing and monitoring the resilience of vulnerable populations and ecosystems to drought, with a specific focus on integrating gender considerations.

Aside from mapping out existing methodologies and showcasing of country-level best practices for drought assessment, planning and management, a comprehensive set of databases, metrics and indicators, and their application for enhanced drought preparedness and response were presented by FAO, Imperial College and the JRC of the European Community.

Engr. Alberto played a very active role in the drought conference where he made two presentations and reported the outputs of two workshops. 

The DA-BSWM headed by Director Gina P. Nilo and Assistant Director Denise A. Solano, is the nationally mandated agency in the sustainable management of soil and water resources for agriculture. 

(by SCMD Reporters)

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