Strategic Plan towards a Drought Information System for South America (SADIS)

Drought has important social, economic, and environmental impacts throughout South America, a region that relies mostly on rainfall to sustain a large agricultural production; generate hydropower; transport goods along its waterways; and satisfy household, industrial, and environmental water needs. Accordingly, the Regional Climate Center for southern South America (RCC-SSA), a six-country institution that contributes to the WMO’s Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), in partnership with the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), have partnered to help identify the actions necessary for the implementation of a Drought Information System (DIS) for South America.

The ultimate goal of a DIS is to allow people, communities, and governments from South America to mitigate or reduce the impacts of drought through preparation, improved monitoring, and prediction. Moreover, a DIS will develop information networks that bridge multiple spatial and jurisdictional scales, from supranational to local. Such networks will benefit and empower existing local efforts in the region and allow the sharing of experiences and mutual learning.

The regional DIS seeks to provide state of the art, authoritative, and relevant information about drought, its expected impacts, and possible actions to mitigate those impacts. This information will allow institutions from the various South American countries to design preparedness and mitigation actions, issue early drought warnings, and initiate responses in specific regions and activities.

In this presentation, we will present the Strategic Plan towards a Drought Information System for South America (SADIS) and provide an update on current activities. The plan identifies the operational requirements and necessary functions and activities of a South American DIS. The plan also seeks to identify existing and necessary drought information, data, and products, and to elicit regional priorities for the desired capabilities of a DIS. Further, the plan explores a possible governance structure for a DIS and the necessary institutional arrangements and partnerships.