Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Status: Active
Operational Plan: 2019 - 2020

The economic, environmental, and social impacts on communities of drought and its attendant hazards—including wildfires, floods, and landslides—are significant. While regionally-integrated drought monitoring and early warning systems can help decision-makers mitigate negative impacts, there is uncertainty among local planners, emergency managers, and others about which early warning indicators and planning tools are most appropriate to support drought management. The project aims to improve the understanding of the best locally-relevant indicators for monitoring drought in specific climate regions; to increase local capacity; and to strengthen existing partnerships across North America.

Issue

• The economic, environmental, and social impacts on communities of drought and its attendant hazards—including wildfires, floods and landslides—are significant
• While drought monitoring and early warning systems can help decision-makers mitigate negative impacts, there is uncertainty among local planners, emergency managers, and others about which early warning indicators and planning tools are most appropriate

Aim

• The CEC is  improving the understanding of locally relevant indicators for monitoring drought in specific climatic regions in North America
• The CEC will  strengthen existing partnerships and increase communities’ ability to use drought information for risk-management planning and decision-making

Deliverables

• Guidelines on the use of locally-relevant drought indicators and indices for North American climatic regions
• Recommendations for communities to improve their access to and use of tools for drought and multi-hazard planning
• Recommendations for improving access to and information offered by the North American Drought Monitor (NADM)