7 September 2018: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP, or UN Environment) and its partners have begun the pilot phase of the Flood and Drought Portal, which aims to provide “near-real-time access to hydrographic, meteorological and demographic information.” By aggregating available climate information and risk assessments from a range of sources and presenting it in more accessible formats the project seeks to support water managers and other stakeholders to better prepare for and respond to water-related risks.

According to global data analyses by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and partners, floods disrupt as much as US$96 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) each year, while the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) further estimates that drought costs the agriculture industry alone US$6 billion to US$8 billion annually.

The UN Environment-led project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented in partnership with the International Water Association (IWA) and DHI. The project provides access to a package of web-based technical applications that can be applied individually or together to include information about floods, droughts and future scenarios into planning from the transboundary basin to water utility level. Water authorities across three transboundary river basins of Chao Phraya in Thailand, Lake Victoria in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and Volta in Burkina Faso are involved in the pilot phase to test the online system and help fine-tune and learn to use the tools. [UN Environment Press Release] [International Water Association Press Release] [Flood and Drought Portal]