Drought Management Policies

There is a complex of related and interdependent policies that are designed to give early warning of drought, mitigate its impacts, relieve the suffering of those made destitute by it, and rehabilitate herding and farming economies after drought. Many of these policies, by their explicit design or in practice, are implemented within grazing systems and to assist pastoralists and agro-pastoralists.

However, the main aim of drought management policies is to reduce human suffering and improve human welfare. Indeed, by the theory of non-equilibrium environments periodic droughts are unlikely to have a long-term effect on rangeland conditions.

Under equilibrium conditions, and arguably under certain circumstances in non-equilibrium environments, poorly designed subsidies on drought relief , particularly where they become semi-permanent, constitute a policy pressure contributing to overgrazing.

Drought management policies need to comprise the following elements:

- Drought resilience policies
- Early warning systems
- Drought contingency planning
- Drought mitigation measures
- Relief measures
- Rehabilitation measures

Drought resilience policies | There are a number of areas where governments can contribute to drought resilience, although there is no clear boundary separating such policies from good development practice in pastoral areas. The majority of the policy options discussed under "Overgrazing Policy Options" can be regarded as drought resilience policies.
Early warning systems | Combinations of bio-physical monitoring of climate and range conditions, with socio-economic monitoring of livestock producers, can be a powerful tool for forecasting droughts. Some of the key issues are: the cost-effectiveness and institutional sustainability of complex EWS the feasibility of incorporating the latest technical possibilities of remote sensing and climate forecasting the trade-offs between locally-specific indicators and comparison and objectivity across regions.
Drought contingency planning | Early warning of drought has to be combined with a strategy to enable governemnt and donors to respond to and mitigate the effects of drought. A district-level drought contingency plan developed in Turkana, Kenya has been widely discussed as a model. It includes: an overall drought policy with agreed objectives advance creation of physical and institutional structures to respond to drought a definition of warning stages to be generated by EWS and to trigger response from government a set of plans for specific mitigation, relief and rehabilitation measures. Outstanding issues include: the need to involve communities in planning the continuing difficulties in guaranteeing a flow of funds from central government and donors.
Drought mitigation measures | Drought mitigation measures are necessary in order to minimise the impact of drought on production systems and livelihoods. Potential drought mitigation measures include: destocking provision of drought-time grazing including emergency water supply providing fodder for droughted stock credit, cash/food for work and other measures to maintain human food availability rapid increases in human and animal services suspension of taxation and associated charges.
Relief measures | Relief measures are needed particularly for the infirm and those unable to work
Rehabilitation measures | Rehabilitation measures, in particular restocking, although models for truly large-scale restocking have yet to emerge (see also destocking)

Key References

Morton, J (ed) (in press). Pastoralism, Drought and Planning: Lessons from Northern Kenya and Elsewhere. NRI, Chatham.

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