Drought Monitoring in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: Participatory Engagement to Inform Early Warning Systems

Fragaszy, Stephen Russell; Jedd, Theresa; Wall, Nicole; Knutson, Cody L.; Fraj, Makram Belhaj; Bergaoui, K.; Svoboda, Mark D.; Hayes, Michael J.; McDonnell, Rachael

doi:10.1175/bams-d-18-0084.1

Cited by 38 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Several possible avenues exist to link this aspect of the drought risk management norm (sharing of early warning data) to practices and procedures. First, agencies and/or ministers could choose, or be required through emerging freedom of information laws (see Fragaszy et al, 2020 for discussion of this topic in the project countries), to release such monitoring information regularly. Another avenue would be to participate in the UN-Water Program, which has been shown to play a role in connecting background data and norms with legal procedures and ministerial declarations (Baumgartner & Pahl-Wostl, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During all engagements, the interviewer periodically repeated back primary points to interviewees to ensure they accurately captured the content and tone and as necessary clarified sociolinguistic points of confusion. See Fragaszy et al (2020) for more detail and context on engagements.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recent development of a MENA regional drought monitoring tool (the Composite Drought Indicator, or CDI) based primarily on open-source satellite and modeled data using a convergence of evidence approach to drought monitoring that incorporates information on soil moisture, vegetation stress, precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration components (Bijaber et al, 2018) links directly with the objectives of the Sendai Framework. National agencies in the project countries are now producing their own drought maps to inform early warning systems (Fragaszy et al, 2020).…”

Section: Sendai Framework Priority 1: Understanding Disaster Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent analyses highlight the favorable benefit-cost ratio of investment in early warning systems for heat and water stress (Global Commission on Adaptation, 2019). Although MENA countries' drought monitoring systems capture a wide range of climatic, hydrological, and agricultural drought indicators, they do not act as effective society-wide early warning systems that trigger actions primarily because of data sharing and institutional constraints as well as difficulties in officially defining and declaring a drought (Fragaszy et al, 2020).…”

Section: Sendai Framework Priority 1: Understanding Disaster Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If implemented in the countries within an effective institutional architecture, new monitoring technologies, especially those that use remotely sensed and modeled data, will improve early warning capacity. It will provide timely and consistent information that integrates a range of drought characteristics (indicators and impacts) and bypass some of the data sharing and institutional challenges identified here and by Fragaszy et al (2020). Also, it will facilitate the pairing of monitoring information with staged drought management interventions.…”

Section: Sendai Framework Priority 1: Understanding Disaster Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Drought Management Norms: Is the Middle East and North Africa Region Managing Risks or Crises?

Jedd

Fragaszy

Knutson

et al. 2020

The Journal of Environment & Development

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The Middle East and North Africa region experiences severe socioeconomic and political impacts during droughts and faces increasing drought risk in future climate projections. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s Sendai Framework and the International Drought Management Programme provide a global standard (a norm) to manage droughts through natural hazard risk reduction approaches. We use participatory engagement to evaluate whether norm diffusion has taken place in four countries. Data were collected in interviews, focus groups, workshops, and policy documents. Analysis reveals incomplete norm diffusion; stakeholders subscribe to relevant values, but national policies and implementation do not fully reflect the norm. Process tracing reveals that the availability of drought early warning data is a key barrier to risk reduction. Further more, a drought early warning system would not be feasible or sufficient unless paired with policy measures and financial mechanisms to reduce the political and economic costs of a drought declaration.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%