Water Sector Policy for Drought Management.

This sectoral Policy is an integral part of the National Water Strategy 2016-2025 with the main purpose of facing the increasing problem of the of drought and its impacts on various sectors ( society, economy, social values, environment and natural resources) by setting defined rules to manage the scarce water resources efficiently and in a sustainable manner, in line with the Paris Agreement Paris entered into action in November 2016. Therefore, the Policy proposes to adopt and implement a comprehensive approach based on integrated drought management to reduce the impacts using proactive and preventive risk management approaches. To achieve the aforementioned overall goal, specific objectives are defined, as follows (i) ensure adequate supply of water to meet the basic needs of the population; (ii) minimize the negative impacts of drought on water resources, especially freshwater resources, dams and surface and groundwater; (iii) reducing the negative impacts of drought on agriculture and other economic activities; (iv) establish a national drought forecasting and early warning system; (v) develop and implement national drought management plans based on proactive risk management rather than crisis management; (vi) ensure effective coordination of institutional response to drought mitigation measures; (vii) develop action plans and contingency plans to address various types of drought; (viii) implementing educational, training and public awareness programs related to drought management; (ix) encourage the adoption of self-reliance measures that enhance risk management.
To make agriculture more productive and sustainable, the document aims to reduce the negative impacts on the sector through the following (i) using preventive risk management approaches, instead of crisis management approach, in order o institutionally address the risks of drought incidences in coordination with the public and private sectors; (ii) developing educational programs and materials for youth within the education system to increase their awareness towards drought and water-saving behaviors, with emphasis on gender and the important roles of woman in water management; and (iii) promoting stakeholder participation in water conservation and protection programs with a strong emphasis on gender-differentiated tasks.
The resilience of livelihoods to disasters shall be increased through an integrated drought management, as already said, which will focus on prevention and information and in particular (i) collect, analyze and disseminate drought information on a regular and timely basis; (ii) establish a Drought Early Warning System to monitor and predict droughts and provide decision makers with reliable data and making this information the basis for an effective drought management planning; (iii) conduct public awareness campaigns and water education programs focusing on water scarcity during drought and spreading the culture of awareness and responsibility; (iv) cooperate with neighboring countries to exchange information on drought and climate data; and (v) promote research on drought to improve drought management, innovation and technology programs.
As for the Governance, the Policy proposes a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of institutions at the local, national, and regional levels, giving the priority to capacity building of water-related institutions and capacity building of human resources to ensure effective drought management.