Droughts cause deep and multi-faceted damages to ecosystems, (agro) economies and societies, particularly to vulnerable populations, namely in rural areas worldwide. The global climate crisis, fueled and exacerbated by man-made changes, and the weakening of ecological functions increases the severity of drought events.

Droughts are only one in the bucket of natural and man-made hazards and risks. They have to be understood and addressed from a multi-risk perspective. The ongoing COVID Pandemic is a defining moment for strengthening drought resilience in society and managing ecosystems more sustainably.

The Webinar examines these challenges and aims to improve our understanding of multi-risk assessment starting from the work of WASAG group on “drought”. The Webinar will present an overarching understanding of the linkages through insights from experts on the conceptual framework, research and insights from policies. The Webinar brings together stakeholders from international and multilateral organizations, research institutions, and policy-think tanks, with the common agenda to enhance the multi-risk approaches including drought. The Webinar will provide ways forward for the multi-risk assessment framework, and especially to the endeavours of development cooperation to reduce and manage risks in developing countries. The scope for future cooperation and collaboration will be explored.

Programme

Introduction by the Moderator

• Rachael McDonnell, Deputy Director General, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Welcome Address

• Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Director, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Opening Remarks

• Sasha Koo Oshima, Deputy Director, Land and Water Division, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)

Drought and COVID - linkages

• Saravanan Subramanian, WASAG and DIE

Drought and Riskscape – towards a multi-risk assessment framework

• Detlef Müller-Mahn, Institute of Geography, University of Bonn

Practical experiences with urban to rural multi-risk assessments in Kenya and Tanzania

• Dennis Ochuodho (Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University, Kenya)
• Digna Irafay (Consultant and Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Tanzania)

Panel Discussion and exchange with expert audience

• Chris Magero, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Anna-Katharina Hornidge, DIE
• Daniel Tsegai, United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
• Maher Salman, FAO
• Festus Asaaga, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)

Moderator

• Michael Brüntrup, DIE

Q & A Session to Panelists and Speakers

Outlook and ways forward

• Miriam Medel Garcia,Chief, External Relations, Policy and Advocacy, UNCCD