Newsletter, ISSUE 5, August 2019

Dear readers,

Welcome to the fifth DriDanube newsletter!

In this issue you can read about:

• Outcomes of the DriDanube Final conference - Danube Drought Conference, held on 7-8 May 2019 in Vienna
• Drought Strategy – what is the newly developed Drought Strategy about and how it can help in the future
• Repository of drought impacts across the Danube catchment
• DriDanube results presented in a new leaflet
• Our new / FINAL video

OUTComes of the danube drought conference

DriDanube Final Conference, Danube Drought Conference, took place on 7-8 May 2019 in Vienna. The focus of the event was not only to present the project results but mainly to emphasize the importance of joint cooperation in the area of drought management and to outline the way forward. If you are interested to learn what the conference participants consider a pathway towards integrated drought management in the Danube Region, read the Outcomes of the Danube Drought Conference which are summarizing work of DriDanube, DMCSEE and IDMP CEE partners in the last couple of years in the region and emphasizing some key areas of the future work. 

As the presentations and discussions offered valuable 

information, you can easily get back to the program in a special section of our webpage Final conference.

The photos can be found in our Gallery section.

Are you interested what the conference guests value the most about DriDanube’s contribution to improving drought management in the region, check the video on DriDanube impact.

Drought strategy - what it is about and how it can help in the future

The shift that DriDanube project wants to bring is that we will not be only reacting to the damages caused by drought but start acting ahead of the crisis and get prepared in advance.

“Our main focus is to detect particular stage of drought development in early stage so that we are ready already in the stage when there is no drought in the country.” says Andreja Sušnik, DriDanube Project Manager.

Once we know the stage of drought that DriDanube’s new monitoring tool Drought Watch can now help to detect, a common understanding of responsibilities is required in order to act appropriately within each drought stage. This is when a Strategy is needed to give clear guidance on how to proceed.

Read more here.

Drought Strategy, as a document proposing a new framework for improved drought management in the Danube region, includes an Optimal Drought Management Model, a concept of how drought management would optimally function to comprehensively tackle drought management issues. 

Check the video to find out why such model is needed.

Dridanube results presented in a new leaflet

On the occasion of 25th anniversary of the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the  World Day to Combat Desertification in 2019 (WDCD), we prepared our final leaflet which is are presenting the tools that DriDanube project partners developed over the past 2,5 years.

Read more here.

DRidanube final video

One of the main achievements of the DriDanube project is the increased awareness about drought as a larger phenomenon that goes beyond the national level and about the possibility to detect it already in its early stages before it grows to an extreme situation.

In only 2.5 years DriDanube partners have achieved significant results: a new monitoring system - Drought Watch, covering the whole Danube region was developed, a network of 1,000 active drought impact reporters was established, a Drought Strategy and optimal drought management model was created, which can be easily adjusted to every country in the region, more then 20 national events were organized, including a big Danube Drought Conference.

We invite you to check these and many more outcomes you can check in the final DriDanube video.

who we are

Introduction of the project partners
In each issue of our Newsletter we introduced our project partners.
This time we are introducing:

Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO)

ARSO performs primarily tasks related to the national hydrological, meteorological and seismological services. It is an institution affiliated to Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, its tasks and organizational structure are determined by the Governmental Decree on bodies affiliated to ministries. ARSO main mission is to work around the clock to provide vital weather, climate, and seismic information. By providing high-quality environmental data for all target groups, it helps to reduce natural threats to people and property. Early warnings of hazardous natural phenomena, severe weather, fluctuations in air quality and climate variability and change issued by ARSO allow citizens to be better prepared for such natural hazards that can cause significant damage or even loss of human lives. These warnings help save life and property, protect resources and the environment and support socio-economic growth. ARSO is as such closely related to the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (URSZR), which is ASP in the DriDanube project, and to other institutions working in the field of environmental risks management and disaster management.

ARSO also carry out tasks of the Drought management Centre for South-Eastern Europe (DMCSEE), established jointly by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). DMCSEE mission is to coordinate and facilitate the development, assessment, and application of drought risk management tools and policies in South-Eastern Europe with the goal of improving drought preparedness and reducing drought impacts.

As a Lead partner, ARSO is responsible for organizational and operational aspects of the DriDanube project and in charge of works on Drought Response (WP6).

More information at www.arso.gov.si

Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE)

GWP CEE, established in 1998, is an international network of organizations involved in water resources management: government institutions, professional associations, research institutions, nongovernmental organizations and private sector. Its vision is for a water secure world and its mission is to advance governance and management of water resources for sustainable and equitable development. GWP CEE’s international network comprises 12 Country Water Partnerships (CWPs) in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine with more than 170 partner organizations from different sectors. On national level, CWPs support the development of national polices by convening multi-stakeholder dialogues on integrated water resources management, climate change and other cross cutting topics. GWP CEE has experiences in stakeholder involvement, providing neutral platform for dialogue and cooperation, organizing national/regional workshops, trainings for stakeholders from all spheres.

More information at www.gwpcee.org

You can read more about our partners introduced in previous issues: Newsletter #1, Newsletter #2 , Newletter #3 and Newsletter #4.

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contact us

DriDanube Project Manager:
Andreja SUŠNIK
Phone: + 386 1 478 4073
E-mail: andreja.susnik@gov.si

DriDanube Communications Manager:
E-mail: gwpcee@gwpcee.org