International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA)

In News

  • Spain and Senegal led 30 countries and 20 organisations to launch the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA) at the COP27 to the UNFCCC at Sharm El-Sheikh.

About IDRA

  • The IDRA was first announced by Spain at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly. 
  • The alliance will help each other to be better prepared for future droughts.
  • The group also pledged to drive change in how the world tackles the growing drought risks: Moving from emergency response to building long-term resilience.
  • The mission of the alliance is to give political impetus to make the land’s resilience to drought and climate change a reality by 2030. 

Do you know?

  • Droughts have increased in frequency by 29 percent since 2000, with around 55 million people affected every year. 
  • Drought-generated economic losses from 1998 to 2017 were about $124 billion across the world. 
  • The 2022 droughts in Europe, United States, Australia, Chile, the Horn and southern Africa, showed that no country or region is immune to their impacts. 

Challenges

  • Drought represents the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world.
  • Climate change is expected to cause more severe droughts in the future.

Significance

  • The alliance is significant as there is no global convention for land, other than UNCCD, which mostly focuses on desertification.
  • The alliance will also collaborate with other platforms, including the initiative launched by the United Nations Secretary-General and the World Meteorological Organization to achieve universal coverage of early warning systems and regional initiatives to reap the maximum benefits of working together on drought resilience.

Source: DTE