A protocol to assist in the development of drought early warning systems in Africa: the DEWFORA project

Drought in Africa has generated widespread media attention. The debate on anticipatory drought early warning systems and drought relief assistance has been at the centre of debate in international agencies (UNISDR, 2000; FEWS, 2005, FAO, 2005) and national administrations. Moreover the increasing social awareness about the effects of drought on people combined with adverse climate change predictions exacerbates the situation. The DEWFORA project (www.dewfora.net) aims to develop a framework for improving drought early warning in Africa. The framework is based on the analysis of drought risk and vulnerability and forecasting, that define the appropriate indicators of warning thresholds, combined with the analysis of the responses within the existing socio-political context in Africa. Therefore the DEWFORA framework supports drought early warning in Africa, responding to the technical and organisational structure of science and society (based on the analysis of 9 countries and 6 international organisations). This framework is meant to support existing drought monitoring and warning institutions and agencies in the operation of drought early warning systems (DEWS). Here we report on the ongoing development of the protocol aiming to engage the session participants in a discussion on the use, limitations and possible improvements of the DEWFORA protocol.

This work was funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (EU FP7) in the framework of the Improved Drought Early Warning and Forecasting to Strengthen Preparedness and Adaptation to Droughts in Africa (DEWFORA) project under Grant Agreement 265454.