January 2007

Breaking News

National Integrated Drought Information System to be Established

Late in 2006 the President signed the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) into law, paving the way for an early warning system that will help reduce the economic and social effects of drought.

The Western Governors’ Association led the effort to shepherd NIDIS legislation through Congress. NIDIS was described and envisioned in a 2004 WGA report, “Creating a Drought Early Warning System for the 21st Century” . Dr. Donald A. Wilhite, Dr. Michael J. Hayes, and Mark Svoboda, all from the National Drought Mitigation Center, served on the core team that developed the report, along with many federal and state partners.

Wilhite, Director of the National Drought Mitigation Center, (NDMC) has testified many times before Congress on the need to plan for drought and on the need for a drought early warning system. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the lead federal agency on the NIDIS effort.

Contact NDMC to Co-Schedule Workshops

The National Drought Mitigation Center will be scheduling Listening Sessions and Workshops for later this year to refine the suite of drought decision-making tools that it is developing in partnership with the Risk Management Agency. Tools under development include VegDRI and VegOUT, the Drought Impact Reporter, Assessing Economic Impacts of Drought, the Drought Monitor Decision Support System, the Drought Atlas, and Drought Planning for Ranchers. We’d welcome the opportunity to schedule a half-day or full-day session on one or more of the tools before or after a conference or meeting on a related subject. For more details on the tools, please refer to Current Research. To request a Listening Session or a Workshop, please contact Meghan Sittler, NDMC Research & Outreach Specialist, by e-mailing msittler2@unl.edu, or by calling 402-472-2712.

Arizona Focuses on Drought

Arizona researchers and planners are advancing the state of the art of drought planning, in collaboration with the National Drought Mitigation Center, and their efforts are reflected in recent additions to our web site:

Under Planning for Drought we’ve added a study by University of Arizona PhD student Joe Abraham, who surveyed state drought planning processes in 2004. The paper examines existing drought planning guidance and offers several recommendations for improving state planning process structures.
Assessing Drought Impacts and Vulnerabilities for Long-Term Planning and Mitigation Programs

We also congratulate the Statewide Drought Program of the Arizona Department of Water Resources on an excellent web site and on the very informative 2006 Arizona Drought Preparedness Annual Report We’ve added the link to Arizona’s drought plan to our collection of planning links .

Wilhite Advises Southeastern Europe on Drought Center

Dr. Donald A. Wilhite is a technical advisor to the World Meteorological Organization in establishing a Drought Monitoring Center for Southeastern Europe in Slovenia. It will focus on drought preparedness, monitoring, and management. Wilhite will travel to Slovenia in January to assess organizations that will help form the Center. He will recommend an operational plan and core programs for the Center, and will suggest ways to promote and strengthen the technical and scientific capacity for drought preparedness, monitoring and management in participating countries. Countries involved in various capacities include Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine.

Jordan’s Drought Planning Advances

The National Drought Mitigation Center hosted a delegation of four Jordanian drought planners in November 2006, with staff providing a variety of technical assistance over several days. Dr. Wilhite will provide a draft national drought strategy and plan of action for Jordan, which will be reviewed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The plan will serve as a basis for dialog between participating ministries at a final workshop in Jordan in late March.