Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute is continually improving a drought monitoring system that aims to reduce impacts of increasingly common drought events.
The percentage of the planet affected by drought has more than doubled in the last 40 years, and drought has affected more people worldwide than any other natural hazard, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Severe episodes of drought can have a devastating impact, leading to famine, migration, natural resource degradation and weak economic performance, or exacerbating social tensions and civil unrest.
While drought can’t be stopped, it can be forecasted and its impacts substantially reduced. The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska is helping countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region predict future drought and devise drought mitigation plans for implementation.
To complete this project, the institute has teamed up with international and regional partners, including the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), University of Maryland, NASA, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI), with funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID).