Copernicus Drought Observatory

In Romania, the complex agricultural drought is a climatic hazard phenomenon inducing the worst consequences in agriculture. The area subjected to desertification, characterized by an arid, semiarid or sub humid-dry climate is around 30% of the total surface of Romania.

The operational service offers the monitoring and computerized processing of the main agro-meteorological parameters using data and specialized information like soil moisture and phenological data from a number of 66 meteorological stations with agro-meteorological program included in the national meteorological network.

Starting with January 2019, for better surveillance of the vegetation status in the agricultural areas of Romania, the National Meteorological Administration (NMA) uses Copernicus Global Land Service products.

Prolonged drought in Sri Lanka during 2016 and 2017 resulted in serious undermining of farmers’ livelihoods and putting the country’s rice-based food system under pressure. The low soil moisture levels combined with the exceptionally high temperatures are heading to major disruptions to food systems throughout the country.

In order for governments to implement measures and anticipate food shortages, they need ready access to near real-time data on moisture conditions. IWMI developed the South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS) which was further improved by devising the Soil Water Anomaly Drought Index (SWADI) in order to forecast drought impacts on agriculture on a regular basis.

Together with other tools, SADMS is able to support contingency planning at national and regional levels. The knowledge products are regularly shared with the Disaster Management Centre, to mitigate drought risks and addressing improved food security.