The Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe aims to increase the capacity of the region to adapt to climatic variability and enhance resilience to drought. The program has 10 country partnerships and 40 organizations. It focuses on regional cooperation, national drought planning processes, demonstration projects, capacity development, and knowledge/awareness. Key activities include supporting national drought management plans, testing innovative solutions through demonstration projects, regional capacity building workshops, and knowledge dissemination. The overall goal is to move from reactive to proactive drought management approaches.

1. Integrated Drought Management Programme
in Central and Eastern Europe
Sabina Bokal, IDMP CEE Project manager
Session on climate resilience, integrated
drought and flood management
Consulting Partners Meeting
Port of Spain, 27 June 2014

2. „In terms of water resources management and climate change
adaptation, countries in Central and Eastern Europe are sensitive
to variability and changing precipitation patterns...increased
frequency and severity of extreme weather events – increase of
droughts.“ (IPCC)
need for regional and national drought policies & plans
from reactive to proactive drought management
integrated approach
Drought – reality in Central and Eastern Europe

3. Partners
National Scientific Center
for Global Changes (BG)
Research Institute for Soil
and Water Conservation
(CZ)
10 Country Water
Partnerships & 40
organizations
University of Debrecen (HUN)
Vilnius University (LT)
Institute of Ecology
and Geography (MD)
Institute of Agricultural and
Forest Environment (PL)
Institute of Meteorology
and Water Management (PL)
National Meteorological
Administration (ROM)
Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute
Soil Science and Conservation
Research Institute (SK)
Slovenian Forestry Institute
Biotechnical Faculty (SLO)
Limnos Ltd. (SLO)
Ukrainian Research Institute
of Forest and Forest Melioration (UA)

4. Regional
cooperation
National
planning
processes
Demonstration
projects
Capacity
Development
Knowledge
and awareness
Partnership
and
sustainability
Increase the capacity of
the CEE region to adapt
to climatic variability by
enhancing resilience to
drought.
National
planning
processes

5. 1. Support the process of preparation of the
Drought Management Plans
WP2
to facilitate national governments to incorporate drought
management issues into their national programs, policies and
plans
o the first step from crisis management to risk management approach
o to minimize the adverse impacts on the economy, social life, environment
when drought appears
o to be prepared in advance
o directly linked to WFD & RBMP („...to develop a DMP as a supplementary
measure, in case of obligatory measures are not sufficient to avoid water
scarcity“)
Guidelines
support tool
National Consultation
Dialogues
acceptance at the policy level

6. 1st National
consultation
dialogues
Case study
existing
Guidelines
Guidelines
Final version
2nd National
consultation
dialogues
Guidelines
Draft version
plans
June October / November April 2015
WP2
review of the
current status
o region specific
conditions
o identify the gaps
Stakeholders platform
How to develop the
key items of DMPs?
http://www.gwp.org/en/GWP-
CEE/IDMPCEE/National-Planning/

7. WP5
testing innovative solutions for better resilience to drought
o collecting and analyzing data through demonstration projects is the
most effective approach and contributes to the enhancement of
knowledge and capacity development
o promoting innovative solutions that address critical water security
challenges to enhance drought resilience of countries and
communities
o focusing on different aspects of drought management and
involvement of different sectors outside „water“ sector
o results included into Good Practice Compendium, Guidelines for DMP,
GWP Toolbox, ...
2. Demonstration projects

8. • mitigation measure – to adjust to
extreme variability in water quantities
(release/use of water during dry
periods)
• to improve water retention potential
of the landscapes
• small dikes and polders, restoration of
wetlands and changes in the forest
and agricultural practices, etc.
• Guidelines: to combine drought
mitigation, flood protection and
biodiversity conservation
• Natural Water Retention Measures
Initiative (www. nwrm.eu)
Natural small water retention
measures
Poland, Hungary, Slovakia,
Slovenia
Limnos; 2013
Limnos; 2013
Revitalization of the
river stream
Retention of
the
agricultural
runoff

9. • to test the methods for improving
water infiltration into the soil profile
• field experiments with mixture of
different „techniques“: sub-soiling,
with and without tillage, composting
tillage, organic fertilizers applications,
... – to improve soil structure
• ¸practical examples of soil water
holding capacity regultations + how to
include proposals into DMP or already
exsisting agro-enviromental plans
Slovakia, Czech Republic,
Slovenia, Poland
Increasing soil water
holding capacity
Muller; Slovakia
Laboratory rain simulator; CZ
Mihelic; Slovenia

10. Bulgaria, Ukraine, Slovenia,
Lithuania
Drought impact on forest
ecosystems
• 4 GWP CEE countries with forests area 35%
of total regional forests
• forests have significant impact on the
water regime of territories
• measures for forest adaptation, mitigation
of the negative effects of climate change
o analysis of forest ecosystems – vulnerability
zones of the forest vegetation for the
present climate (61-90) and for the year
2050 and 2100 (different scenarios:
realistic, optimistic, pessimistic)
o measures for adaptation for differetn zones
(high level of vulnerability, low level)
Sakar Mountain; Bulgaria, 1999

11. Identification of agricultural drought
characteristics & monitoring method
through the application of remote
sensing data.Hungary, Slovakia, Romania
Remote sensing
agricultural drought
monitoring methods
Ukraine, Moldova
Agricultural drought
monitoring and
forecasting
Poland, Romania, Lithuania
Drought Risk
Management Scheme
Upgrade data assessment and
forecasting tools to support drought
management and monitoring.
Developing a framework for an
integrated operational drought risk
management system that can be
adjusted to a given drought context.

12. o Drought Management Center for
Southeastern Europe
o Cooperation with River Basin
Organizations (ICPDR, ISRBC):
• observer status
• River Basin Management Expert Group
o European Drought Observatory (EDO) -
platform for exchanging drought
information
o Water management and sustainable
economic development for Kaliningrad
3. Regional Cooperation WP1
to enhance regional and transboundary
cooperation in the field of drought
management

13. to increase the capacities and drought-related
knowladge of the key actors
WP6
o 2 regional workshops
Slovakia, October 2013; Slovenia, April 2014
o Joint IDMP CEE & DMCSEE workshop
and capacity building training
Budapest (HU), October 2014
4. Capacity building

14. o compendium of existing good practices in drought management
o to raise awareness about severe drought conditions through efficient
dissemination mechanisms
Web page
leaflet
Video – in the
making
Photo
competition
WP75. Knowledge & awareness rising

15. http://www.gwp.org/en/GWP-CEE/IDMPCEE/
Thank you for
your attention!