NEW DELHI: Amid reports that three out of four people worldwide could face drought by 2050, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) during its 17th conference (COP17) on Wednesday took a significant step in advancing new global architecture for drought resilience by showcasing the world’s first Drought Resilience Index (DRI) and launching the Drought Resilience Investment Facility (DRIF) to help countries strengthen their drought resilience.DR’s technical monitoring metrics will enable countries to assess their capacity to anticipate, prepare for and adapt to drought while identifying vulnerabilities and informing more effective policies and investments. It’s a new AI-powered features that can help policy-makers, technical experts and the public interpret complex data and turn it into practical insights.On the other hand, DRIF – the first global catalytic financing platform dedicated to drought resilience – will use public capital to reduce investment risks and unlock much larger flows of institutional and private finance for projects that strengthen water security, sustainable agriculture, nature-based solutions and land restoration.“COP17 is about turning commitments into implementation. We now have stronger financing mechanisms, better tools and practical guidance to help countries prepare for drought before it becomes a crisis,” said UNCCD executive secretary Yasmine Fouad.
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“The task now is to connect these pieces and put them to work at scale, through governments, development partners, financial institutions and the private sector,” she added.India, represented by a team led by Union environment minister Bhupende Yadav at COP17, too advocated for strengthening drought resilience. Yadav on Tuesday called for a fundamental shift in the global approach to drought from “reactive relief to proactive technology-enabled resilience”.Underlining India’s core belief that “drought must be managed as a predictable, preventable risk, and not a recurring disaster demanding emergency response”, the minister said, “Preparedness over response, prevention over crisis management, resilience over recovery should be the goal.”
