GWP Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE) is a part of the broader GWP Water and Climate Programme which is being implemented in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and Latin America. GWP CEE started the implementation of its two-year Drought Management Programme in February 2013.
Drought episodes can have local, national and regional characteristics. Several river basins in the GWP CEE region have a transboundary character. Currently, however, there is no suitable mechanism to share information and knowledge among countries, and regional integration of drought monitoring and early warning is not at the desired level.
In response, a transnational integrated approach is needed for the successful tracking of drought, comparing its impacts using a common methodology and assessing the vulnerability of various sectors to drought occurrence. Currently, all of the countries within the CEE region need to improve both their short-term and long-term responses across sectors to meteorological, agricultural and hydrological droughts. Although most CEE countries have well-developed meteorological and hydrological monitoring, these systems are not translated into concerted efforts to support decision-makers in other sectors of the national economy, such as agriculture and energy.
The Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe (IDMP CEE) supports the governments of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine in the development of drought management policies and plans. It aims to build the capacity of stakeholders at different levels to use a proactive integrated drought management approach, and also tests innovative approaches for future drought management planning.