The side event ”Droughts in the Anthropocene” at COP-25, Madrid, Spain.
The side event "Droughts in the Anthropocene” was held on 18 November 2019 in UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, during UNESCO’s 40th General Conference, to launch a publication and digital display of case studies on the impacts of drought. Speakers at the side event, organized by IHP in collaboration with partners, included representatives of the IHP Secretariat, the Government of Flanders to UNESCO, and experts from Sudan, Brazil, UK and Norway.
The case studies, developed by IHP and GRID-Arendal, were presented through a series of videos (available here) highlighting solutions provided by the collaboration between scientists and local communities, and the significant work of IHP in bridging science with society and policy makers to better address the impact of droughts worldwide.
The event provided an opportunity for the formal launch of the new publication “Droughts in the Anthropocene” co-published by UNESCO and GRID-Arendal (available in English/French and English/Spanish) and the web-based, interactive drought-monitoring platform developed by the University of Southampton in coordination with UNESCO.
Case studies were also presented during a side event organized by UNESCO on 11 December 2019 at UNFCCC COP-25 in Madrid, Spain, as well as the International Colloquium on Drought, Low flows and Water Scarcity, held on 11-13 December 2019 in UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France.
Demonstration of the web-based drought-monitoring platform, Paris, France. Credit: L. Gagnier