Better climate services would improve drought management

A press release from the World Meteorological Organization: Scientific progress has laid the basis for more effective policies to combat and manage drought and desertification. The challenge of climate change means it is imperative to translate that science into action, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

...[WMO Secretary General Michel] Jarraud outlined the plans for the new Framework during the High-Level Segment of the Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Changwon, Republic of Korea. He addressed a Roundtable entitled “Harnessing Science Knowledge for combating desertification, land degradation and drought: The path to improvement”....In his presentation to the UNCCD Roundtable, Mr Jarraud made the following points:

• Even without the recent climate change concern, land degradation is especially critical as only around 11% of the global land surface feeds a population of some 7 billion.
• The picture is even grimmer if we include the cumulative effects (since 1750) of greenhouse gases from human activities (fossil fuel burning & land use).
• ...in different areas there might either be augmented land degradation, due to drought, or increased soil erosion, owing to enhanced rainfall....
• ... by altering the familiar spatial and temporal patterns of temperature, rainfall, solar radiation and winds, climate change will contribute to exacerbate desertification, so societies should recognize that historic/ traditional knowledge can often no longer be accepted as a valid indicator of the future.