considerable crop losses, thousands of cattle deaths. The drought has been threatening the considerable gains in terms of economic, social, and human development
that the region has experienced in the past several decades and placing many
communities at risk of slipping back into extreme poverty
1 Reservoirs are at
historically low levels, and in September, 2015, Ceara ´ state had 80 % of its
municipalities depending on water trucks.
2
Aligned with international discussions for improving drought resilience, most
notably the High Level Meeting on National Drought Policy (HMNDP), in Geneva,
Switzerland in March 2013, Brazil’s Ministry of National Integration (MI) created
an intra-ministerial work group to look critically at Brazil’s drought management
approaches, as well as to study the possibility of designing a national drought
policy.
3 At the HMNDP, Brazil declared its commitment to improve drought
planning and management in order to reduce impacts and increase resilience to
future droughts and climate change.
Within this context, the MI requested the World Bank to support a process to
shift the paradigm from reactive to proactive drought management. Specifically, MI
requested: (i) to help with an ‘institutional upgrade’ through structuring and facilitating a more permanent institutional approach and response to drought, and
improving integration within and between federal and state institutions; and
(ii) to help with a ‘technical upgrade’ through developing concrete drought monitoring tools and preparedness plans/protocols. The Brazil Drought Preparedness
and Climate Resilience non-lending technical assistance program (Drought NLTA)
was thus designed and initiated in July 2013 to address this request.
17.3 The Drought NLTA Program Concept
The nature of the main challenge that the Drought NLTA program aims to tackle
(i.e., fostering proactive drought policy and management), necessitates in its design
a cross-sector program both internally to the WB and externally with the various
partners involved. Water, climate, agriculture, and disaster risk management are the
four key-areas involved, and the activities also involve partners from related areas,
such as environment.
Adding another layer to the complexity of the program, more than 120 professionals from 50 multi-sector partners are involved with the effort: representing
the federal government, federal institutions that act both nationally and regionally,
1 More information can be found here: http://www.brasil.gov.br/observatoriodaseca/index.html
2 Source: “Seca: Ceara ´ tem 146 municı ´pios abastecidos por carros-pipa”. Available at http://www.
cearaagora.com.br/site/2015/09/seca-ceara-tem-146-municipios-abastecidos-por-carros-pipa/
3 Source: Ministe ´rio da Integrac ¸~ ao Nacional (MI) e Instituto Interamericano de Cooperac ¸~ ao para a
Agricultura (IICA). 2013. Estudos Referentes ao Diagno ´stico da Polı ´tica nacional de Secas no
Brasil: Relato ´rio Contendo Diagno ´stico e Embasamento para a Formulac ¸~ ao de uma Polı ´tica
Nacional de Secas no Brasil. Consultor, Otamar de Carvalho.
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E. Bretan and N.L. Engle
that the region has experienced in the past several decades and placing many
communities at risk of slipping back into extreme poverty
1 Reservoirs are at
historically low levels, and in September, 2015, Ceara ´ state had 80 % of its
municipalities depending on water trucks.
2
Aligned with international discussions for improving drought resilience, most
notably the High Level Meeting on National Drought Policy (HMNDP), in Geneva,
Switzerland in March 2013, Brazil’s Ministry of National Integration (MI) created
an intra-ministerial work group to look critically at Brazil’s drought management
approaches, as well as to study the possibility of designing a national drought
policy.
3 At the HMNDP, Brazil declared its commitment to improve drought
planning and management in order to reduce impacts and increase resilience to
future droughts and climate change.
Within this context, the MI requested the World Bank to support a process to
shift the paradigm from reactive to proactive drought management. Specifically, MI
requested: (i) to help with an ‘institutional upgrade’ through structuring and facilitating a more permanent institutional approach and response to drought, and
improving integration within and between federal and state institutions; and
(ii) to help with a ‘technical upgrade’ through developing concrete drought monitoring tools and preparedness plans/protocols. The Brazil Drought Preparedness
and Climate Resilience non-lending technical assistance program (Drought NLTA)
was thus designed and initiated in July 2013 to address this request.
17.3 The Drought NLTA Program Concept
The nature of the main challenge that the Drought NLTA program aims to tackle
(i.e., fostering proactive drought policy and management), necessitates in its design
a cross-sector program both internally to the WB and externally with the various
partners involved. Water, climate, agriculture, and disaster risk management are the
four key-areas involved, and the activities also involve partners from related areas,
such as environment.
Adding another layer to the complexity of the program, more than 120 professionals from 50 multi-sector partners are involved with the effort: representing
the federal government, federal institutions that act both nationally and regionally,
1 More information can be found here: http://www.brasil.gov.br/observatoriodaseca/index.html
2 Source: “Seca: Ceara ´ tem 146 municı ´pios abastecidos por carros-pipa”. Available at http://www.
cearaagora.com.br/site/2015/09/seca-ceara-tem-146-municipios-abastecidos-por-carros-pipa/
3 Source: Ministe ´rio da Integrac ¸~ ao Nacional (MI) e Instituto Interamericano de Cooperac ¸~ ao para a
Agricultura (IICA). 2013. Estudos Referentes ao Diagno ´stico da Polı ´tica nacional de Secas no
Brasil: Relato ´rio Contendo Diagno ´stico e Embasamento para a Formulac ¸~ ao de uma Polı ´tica
Nacional de Secas no Brasil. Consultor, Otamar de Carvalho.
308
E. Bretan and N.L. Engle