Webinar: Pandemics/Epidemics, Drought and Agriculture: Building back better

The Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture (WASAG) hosted by the FAO Land and Water Division invites you to its seventh webinar under the title: Pandemics/Epidemics, Drought and Agriculture: Building back better. 

This webinar is organized by leading institutions on drought management, including the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP), the UNCCD Drought Initiative and the WASAG working group on “Drought Preparedness”.

COVID 19 does not discriminate, but its impact does. COVID-19 will have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable individuals and groups with precarious labor conditions, economies and those who are unemployed and those not able to work. Ongoing drought effects on the livelihoods and health of the poorest and most vulnerable people make them also the most vulnerable to COVID 19 and its effects on human immune systems, supply chains and economies. The global initiatives to achieve a green recovery offer a defining moment that could either strengthen or weaken current efforts to achieve a drought resilient and sustainable society. 

This webinar will discuss the pathways through which drought vulnerable groups have been hit by COVID-19 and left behind during the lockdown. It will raise the point that they must not also be left out of the global green recovery. We will discuss what are the options and policy recommendations for an inclusive green recovery. We will also discuss ways to identify and mitigate the unintended economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 response and how to include drought vulnerable groups in COVID-19 decision-making and management by ensuring targeted messaging reaches all drought vulnerable groups.

Registation is now open>>

Moderator:

Mr Robert Stefanski, Chief, Agricultural Meteorology Division, World Meteorological Organization

Speakers:

Dr Oliver Wasonga, Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology (LARMAT), University of Nairobi

Dr Beth Purse, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK 

Dr Festus Asaaga, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK 

Dr Jesse Bell, Department of Environmental, Agricultural, and Occupational Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center