Drought Risk in the Danube Region (DriDanube) project, the Drought Management Center for Southeastern Europe (DMCSEE) and the Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe (IDMP CEE) are organizing:

Danube Drought Conference
7-8 May 2019 at TUtheSky; Getreidemarkt 9, 1060 Vienna (11th floor)

Nowadays, drought is still not getting enough attention at different levels in the region (political, operational, general public etc.) and is still considered to be a rare phenomenon. Recent droughts (2003, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018) showed that such extremes are becoming a regular feature of the climate in this region. Are we also getting prepared? Has something changed over the last 10 years? Do we understand how to move from reactive to proactive approach?

Danube Drought Conference is a conference on challenges in drought management in the Danube region. The conference will host some of the most respected experts in drought management and climate change from Europe and overseas and stakeholders from wide range of organizations who will discuss the way forward in drought management which is achievable through proactive problem solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels. 

More specifically, the conference seeks to: 

• present the results from the DriDanube project (innovative drought monitoring tool for Danube region, unified approach for drought impacts collection and drought risk assessment, strategy which will support proactive drought management in the region);
• show examples of best practices, share knowledge and experience across the drought community;
• encourage better links between political decision-making, recent research and development, financing, and engagement of all key stakeholders. 

To emphasize the importance of cooperation in the area of drought management the event will build upon the activities implemented within the DriDanube project, DMCSEE and IDMP CEE who have jointly organized over 50 national dialogues in the region to foster moving towards the more efficient drought management.

In addition, the following newly developed tools in drought management will be introduced:

• An innovative drought monitoring tool Drought Watch 
  Drought Watch can be a great tool not only for the drought experts but also for the decision makers, especially to monitor and detect droughts on transboundary level. It gives the first impulse of the situation which should lead to further decisions and implementation of timely drought mitigation measures in order to avoid bigger losses and impacts of drought.
• A unified approach for drought impacts collection and drought risk assessment 
  Improved and cross-border comparable methodologies for drought risk and impact assessment are now integrated within the Drought Watch to enable more synchronized and accurate response on decision-making level.
• A Drought Strategy which will support proactive drought management in the region 
  A Strategy will give clear guidance for overcoming the gaps in the drought decision-making processes and improve drought emergency response in the Danube region. 

Current drought situation in the Danube region and the reasons for concerns for the year 2019 will be briefly described during the press conference with help of the new monitoring tool Drought Watch:

Soil Water Index on 7 April across the region as seen in Drought Watch

More information about the concept of the conference and a detailed programme can be found here.

Media are invited to the event’s press conference that will be held on 8 May 2019 at 13:00 – 13:30 at TUtheSky; Getreidemarkt 9, 1060 Wien (11th floor).

Confirmation of your participation at the press conference or interest to attend the conference programme is welcome at jana.pangracova@gwpcee.org .

More information about the event: 
Ms. Andreja Sušnik, Drought Management Center for Southeastern Europe, DriDanube Project Manager, andreja.susnik@gov.si

Ms. Sabina Bokal, Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe - Programme Manager, sabina.bokal@gwpcee.org