Overview

The operational component identifies both the long and short term activities and actions that can be implemented to prevent and mitigate drought impacts. Such activities and actions are essential in the development of specific drought planning and response efforts.

The operational component includes six aspects that need continuous feedback between them (Figure 7):

- Preparedness, early warning, monitoring systems
- Establishing priorities of water use
- Defining the conditions and the thresholds to declare drought levels
- Establishing the management objectives in each drought level
- Defining the actions  
- Implementation of actions

Monitoring and preparedness planning is the first essential step for moving from crisis to risk management in response to drought, and can be viewed as permanent measures to cope with drought events. The management actions related to agriculture and water supply systems are presented with a common conceptual framework based on the use of drought indices for evaluating the levels of drought risk (pre-alert, alert, and emergency), that allow linkages to be established between science (risk analysis) and policy (operational component).

Figure 7 Summary of the aspects of the preparedness and implementation aspects of the operational component

•Top of the page