IDRA X RGDRP Event - Action Dome, UNCCD COP17 Conferences Date: 18 August 2026 Language: Floor (Original) Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/ru/asset/k19/k19zafivit?lang=floor Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations. --- director of communications · Hind Waldman [0:01]: Good morning. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the RDGRP and Hydra pathway to progression session. My name is Hind Waldman. I am the director of communications with the Yale Center for Ecosystems and Architecture, Yale C. And it is my honor today to host this discussion on behalf of the International Drought Resilience Alliance, as well as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. So drought affects food, livelihood, migration, and economy stability. Today, we have more dry data than ever before, yet too often that evidence does not translate into policy decisions, and policy does not translate into investment on the ground. So that is the gap we are trying to address here, the gap between the evidence, the policy, and the investment. Because ultimately, really, data must lead to priorities, priorities must lead to financing, and financing must lead to action. So the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, the RGDRP, was launched at COP 16 in Riyadh in 2024 to help countries to shift from crisis response toward long term drought resilience. Today, we will explore how the RDGRP and IDRA can work together to support the transition. So Idra suppose the implementation of the RDGRP through several of its working pillars. On the political front, Idra aim to to elevate drought resilience on the global agenda. It is also generating and disseminating knowledge and effort to support. or supported by Hydro. Hydro helps countries to identify where drought vulnerability is greatest and where action is needed the most. So the next step is really to turn that evidence into investment through the RGDRP readiness fund, as well as the investment facility. This is where IDRA's role on the RDGIP steering committee matters. It links country needs, draft evidence, as well as investment decisions. So the question to today, at the heart of this session, is very simple. How do we move from knowing where action is actually needed to actually financing where finances that need action. So over the next 90 minutes, we will look at Hydro as a practical tool for setting priorities, as well as hearing from countries and financing partners, explore early investment opportunity and discuss how we can move this work forward together. So our goal is clear today is to move from seeing the risk to financing the response. So with that, let us begin with the opening remarks. So we are going to begin with leadership and partnership. And it is my privilege to introduce two leaders whose work reflect the purpose of today's session. So first, I would like to invite Doctor Osama Fatiha, who is the Deputy Minister of Environment at Saudi Arabia Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, and representing also the COP 16 presidency. Doctor Fakiha, the floor is yours. Saudi Arabia · Deputy Minister of Environment, representing the COP 16 presidency · Osama Fakiha [4:35]: Assalamualaikum and good morning. Very nice weather in beautiful Ulaanbaatar. Thank you very much for being here. And I thank IDREW for organizing this event, and IDRA, and UNCCD, and all of those who and TLI Global Land Initiative, and all of those who participated in making this event a reality. As you know, Saudi Arabia has signed high priority to drought in COP 16. And this is no surprise We are among the most arid countries in the world, arguably. Maybe very few countries who are more arid than Saudi Arabia. So drought is a fact of life for us. It is not just a passing by wave. And it's something that our ancestors has to live with for centuries and have to adapt and adjust and live in a very harsh environment. And here today with the blessing of the technologies and innovations, we are also facing drought, but in different ways. Like using desalinated water and treated wastewater and other technologies to enhance our water management in the kingdom. However, drought, as you all know, is a global phenomena, is an increase. And according to UCCD, currently 1 in every 4 person on this planet are suffering from water scarcity and drought. And the outlook moving forward is more grim. that the percentage could double or more than double in coming years. And since 2000, drought frequency and intensity increased by 29 29%. We have looked at WMO reports. We have looked at more recently OECD outlook on drought. And we see this about you know, we all we all associate drought with the Horn of Africa. And we always have those images of of of malnutrition, children, and the suffering of communities in specific areas. However, drought that's true, but drought now is expanding way beyond that. And we always think about drought as a natural phenomena that we are helpless. The fact is that's not true. Not all the causes of drought are natural. or coming from climatic variations. No. Land degradation is a major cause for drought. The way we deal the overabstraction of underground resources, over abstraction of rivers. I looked at some statistics. Some rivers, the abstraction is 30 times higher than the reach out. recharge for the rivers. So drought is certain for that. And the same for a lot of aquifers. I just according to OECD, I think 60% of global aquifers has witnessed significant decline. So how do we manage water? How we grow our crops? How we conduct our daily life has a lot to do with how we manage water resources and how we avoid causing drought. But of course, there is also the natural element and climatic induced drought that is already a major contributor. So, we held the high level dialogue and drought the ministerial level, the drought and drought in COP 16. We worked on the negotiation track to to accelerate a global instrument for drought, regarding instruments. And we launched the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership. And the relation between IDRA, IDRO, and RJDB is what I'm going to focus in my following remarks. which really we started in COP 16 with both IDRA and IDRA were there. And also in Seville last summer, we have the joint declaration with Spain and Senegal as the co-share of EDRA. Of course, Saudi Arabia is member of EDRA, joint EDRA. And we also issued a declaration that articulate the strong partnership We have unity in the goal. RJDB, IDRA, and IDRU, we all drive for the same goal, which is a drought resilience, a world that we are more ready and capable of addressing drought issues. But we complement each other. There is no duplication at all. While Idra lead the political in you know, spearheading the political support and the global political support as well as an IDRO leading in the innovation and vulnerability assessments. And helping countries to identify drought areas and the best interventions. RGDB comes into the implementation domain. How can we translate the political support and the strategies and planning that Idro helped develop into an implementable. plans. And that's why RJDB brings a partnership between governments, both donor governments and recipient governments, as well as financial institutions, international organizations, and other relevant stakeholders. To translate the challenges and the ambition into actions on the ground. Our focus, although drought is global, and there is no country immune from drought, we all I think many of you came from Germany, and you have seen how is the Rhine and Danube has actually seen historical low level and impacted the trade there. I've been also talking to some of my friends in South America. And actually many of those countries depend on hydroelectric power stations. And they told me that they are seeing some serious problems with generating electricity because of historically low level of water flows. But despite all of that, RJDB focus on low and lower middle income developing countries. And for a simple reason. First of all, 85% of the communities of the 1.8 billion people currently impacted by the drought are in low income and lower middle income countries. Second, those countries are most vulnerable and and least capable of facing drought. So really, the need there is acute. So RGDB is forking. It's a world where we feel the need is most acute. But again, RGDB, you know, drought is not a regional or localized issue. It's a global it's a global challenge. But we do also acknowledge that some countries are more capable of facing drought than others. And of course, I think Hint was talking about the finance and implementation. We focused in bringing developmental bank and financial institutions on board. And I'm very glad that we have villages of exceeding $2 billion. And also, you know, I am very glad that Jeff has assigned $900 billion for drought and land degradation issues. So this is about 2.9 billion. Of course, we have 2 billion exclusively for RGDB and the 900 million by budget. It's going to be global, but we are really keen to work with them and have a substantial portion assigned to low and lower middle income countries who are suffering from drought. Again, I think it is important that drought addressed in a proactive way. Although the relief organizations doing an open and a very important job, but usually they intervene after drought occurs and hits. What we are trying to focus is really bridge the gap before drought hits, where we think there is more work need to be done in this space. That we are still the overwhelming response now is after the drought occurs. And we believe that that's too late. That's too late. And actually there is a huge economic and social penalty for for this late intervention. And that's what we are trying to do with IDRA, with IDRA, and with RGDB. We are all one with others. FAO, UNDP, and WMO and all of those organizations. We are pooling resources. We are, you know, integrating our efforts to strengthen implementation. So definitely we need, first of all, the early warning and the early assessment and the vulnerability assessments that really help a lot into that regard. We need to integrate drought strategy into developmental strategy and sustainable development. And we are in the capacity as COP 16 presidency. We participated in Seville in the Finance for Development Conference where we were discussing how to mobilize finance for development for developing countries. And our argument was that drought has to be central and integrated into developmental plans of developing countries, most vulnerable developing countries. Also the financial institutions MDBs, the multilateral development banks and others has to come there because you know drought, although drought impacts rural communities and farming communities and the most vulnerable. But also it has huge impact on the sustainability of businesses and the long term viability of this business. So they have to be really part of the solution. I do acknowledge that still we have to create innovative financial instruments. We still face difficulties of accessing capital. and unlocking capital flow to drought resilience, that is still we are not yet there. But I think we need to keep pushing. We need to look for solution, working with finance institutions, with other organizations so that we need to overcome this hurdle. So this is really a challenge that we need to face. RJDB is trying to to mobilize resources. Now, I think Doctor Yasemin can talk about the drift as well, where the drift is also another important element of mobilizing resources. And de risking the unlocking the flow of private capital. So we need to pull resources. Innovation is very important. Innovation is you know, it have the solution. I have seen some really, you know, especially in drought resilience crops and how some crops can consume less water and and we still have better yield. I believe there is a very promising innovation out there that need to be mainstreamed, and need to be really included into our mainstream business. Again, drought is a challenge that we need to face it face on. Starting today is already too late. We need to work and we need to integrate efforts and basically support each other. Because there is no single entity or country have the answer. But together, we all have the answers. What EDRA is doing, what what EDRA, what IDRA is doing, what RJDB is doing, what UNCCD is doing, as the global issue holder and what they are doing through now, COP 17 and the global mechanism and other instruments. This is all very important and needed. And we need to integrate and synergize our efforts to face this this this formidable challenge and create a better future for our children and grandchildren. Thank you very much. director of communications · Hind Waldman [18:55]: Thank you. Thank you so much, Doctor Osama, for those important words and for Saudi Arabia continued leadership. Now, I would like to welcome Doctor Yasmine Fouad, who's the executive secretary of the UNCCD. And Doctor Yasmine Fouad will share also some opening remarks. UNCCD · executive secretary · Yasmine Fouad [19:23]: Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here today. and I'm I'm replacing my my dear colleague and sister Andrea Meza, who is not able to make it today. Uh but let me start by definitely thanking the government of Mongolia for hosting us in this beautiful city of Ulaanbaatar. And yes, Doctor Osama, the weather is really very good at least compared to our countries that we're coming from. So and and also let me before doing the opening remarks on Idra is to complement the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Cop 16 presidency. Not for an excellent presidency and for highlighting the issue on drought in a historic moment. Whether through the Riyadh Global Drought Partnership, uplifting the discussion, or even integrating drought in the Business for Land initiative, or the Riyadh Action Agenda, and how many initiatives came out of the drought. But what I can see up till now is a country that's not only suffering from drought and land degradation like the kingdom Saudi Arabia, but a country that's very much owning a process and believing in that. Thank you, Doctor Osema, for championing this and for giving us really a role model to continue our work with so much passion. Um I would like to bring three important parts to this discussion beside what Doctor Osama has mentioned on the global drought on the Riyadh. Global Drought Partnership, what has been done? The first message that would be important that we have different mechanisms. He mentioned them, the IDRA, the RGTRP. We have recently the drift that will focus on the private sector and you're risking the capital, which I always say, this is another side of the coin of the RGTRP. And it drew recently that we appreciate the work that Edgar and his team is doing on the monitoring and and the resilience gaps within each country. What we want right now, and what we've been trying to do as partners in this process is to connect them together. So IDRA was there to mobilize the political, the financial, and the technical capital that is needed to uplift the discussion on drought. So thanks to Spain and to Senegal for co sharing that and uplifting and introducing that for the sake. First of the continent and then for the whole world. Thanks to the kingdom that came to complement that with the 12 billion and starting operationalizing the RGTRP, and taking things very seriously that we will need to do that and operationalize that. And thanks to IDREW for joining us throughout that journey. And this is the first thing. The second message is looking at what the countries would like to see. The countries are not lacking the drought management plan, or they are not lacking the places where drought would be and the farmers and the pastoralists would suffer. What they are lacking is two things. And not the data as well. Is the processing and the acquisition of data to the best of the knowledge in order to identify how, where best to invest, and how to do that kind of investment. So I always say, like with the the very small presentation that Edgar and the team has done for me before coming here, and I will be more thrilled to look thoroughly into that. I'm coming from a country like Egypt. The drought is is all over the place beside being a semi arid area. I would walk into a provenance like Kafr e Sheikh and I would find drought and I would find a high salinity of water, of groundwater. And I would go and say we need to invest in this part, because that is important, because that's the source of food for our people. And then, this is an example. Idrew would come with the with the observation, would tell me you know, your pipeline and your project is not the best investment. You need to invest in the new delta, which is a new project for the country, because what the science tell us in ten years, that would be worse. So you will be paying less to prevent the impact of drought, rather than paying more in something that you need to have double or triple the amount. And yet, the restoration will take many years. These are the kind of things that we're trying to put. So IDREW, with the early warning system and the monitoring and the gaps, including the adaptive capacity of the country, the RGTR RGTRP in using that within the readiness program and the knowledge bank that will be there, and then having the drift as the private sector to complement that. This is exactly what we're trying to do. And we want also, throughout the next few days, seizing the opportunity of this COP, having the parties to the convention, having the 70 countries that are most vulnerable to the impact of drought to tell us how best can we do that and how can, like Doctor Osema said, to work together. The last thing is the CCD and how we are seeing this. We're not and and I have to say this because this has been moving around in different platforms. We appreciate the support of Spain and Senegal to us in Idra, and all the team that is working there to make that happen and we will be supporting the results that will come out of Idra. We we support what Idru is doing and we'll continue to do that. We will be hosting the RGTRP secretary, and we thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their confidence and the trust that they give us, but also it comes with the responsibility. We have a multiple of UN agencies that will be here next Friday and for the next week for joining the RGTRP. What I want to say as part of being the undersecretary general, beside being definitely the executive secretary of the UNCCD that within the UN80 reform, we will continue to complement one another as a UN agencies to serve the countries better. We're not duplicating. We're not competing. We are complementing one another. We're not an implementing agency. What the UNCCD is trying to do is to be a convener in order to accelerate implementation. That is the responsibility of other UN agencies. Thank you very much and again thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, thanks to Spain, to Senegal, to Idrew, and to everyone that is caring about the next future generation and that we don't want to find anyone that is dying out of drought. Thank you. director of communications · Hind Waldman [27:12]: Thank you. Thank you so much Doctor Yasmin and Doctor Oussama for those very strong opening remarks. Thank you so much. So let's move on now from the overall vision into the practical pathway. We have heard the why. Now we're going to turn to the to the why. To the sorry, we heard from the why, and now we're going to turn to the how. So for our next question, how does the pathway actually work in practice, I would like to invite Daniel Tsegai, who's a program officer at UNCCD, and Gabriel Lambert, advisor to the Deputy Executive Secretary at UNCCD as well. So thank you Daniel and Gabriel. for being with us today. So Daniel, when we talk about bridging the gap between evidence and action, where is the real challenge at the country level you will say. Is it having, as an example, the right data? Is it to have a strong natural drug plan, better coordination, or turning knowledge into clear priority for action. UNCCD · program officer · Daniel Tsegai [28:41]: Thank you very much, Hind, for this very interesting question. Before I come to the challenge, I would like to give a brief history on how far we have come as parties of the UNCCD and the secretariat supporting the parties. Before around 10 to 12 years, there were only a handful countries with national drought plan. When we go from country to country, they just confidently tell you that yes, we have a plan. But the plan that they have is on how to respond to drought. The the perspective on drought was always a crisis. So there was only preparation, but just trying to look into what we can do after drought strikes. So drought was treated as a crisis. And in many cases, it's very expensive if you react too late. So the parties of the UACCD with a number of partners including WMO and also GWP and FAO and a few others, we try to really look into how we can shift this paradigm from crisis to risk. It's very important that now, from reactive to proactive, but also from proactive to prospective, we are going to live with drought. So this is why adaptation is very important. We cannot be surprised by drought that drought strikes. We need to be prepared. So we supported some 70 countries to come up with a national drought plan based on this principle of risk reduction. All these 70 countries, which are very much vulnerable to drought, have now monitoring and early warning systems. By the way, early warning and monitoring systems is not about predicting or forecasting drought. It's more than that. It is analyzing the risks, who is going to be vulnerable, and also communicating the risks, turning this early warning into early action. And also trying to support, to supplement the information with what to do if drought is going to strike in the next six months. So it's very comprehensive what they have. The other thing is vulnerability and impact assessment. And why we call it drought risk profiling. So that they know exactly which part of their region is going to be affected. What are the reasons for for their vulnerability? And drought risk mitigation measures. context specific measures. Because sometimes people think, okay, let's harvest the water. But does water harvesting work everywhere? No. So this one size fits all does not work. So we try to develop a drought toolbox to support them to really look into their situation and then come up with a solution. So having said this, the challenge, the main challenge so far was I think getting the data, especially on vulnerability data. It's very important that they are able to root the root cause of their vulnerability. And countries now report every four years on their vulnerability. And it's mainly the default data that they use. So I think we need to empower them to be able to generate their own data based on their context specific exposure on on drought, the hazard is another indicator. The other thing, very important challenge that countries have put in their national drought plan is this silo approach to drought. Drought is always associated to agriculture. But drought is now impacting the economy, energy, health, tourism. I remember a country in Southern Africa, for example, auctioning their wildlife because of drought a number of thousands of elephants and tourism died. And a lot of girls could not go to school because of drought, because of this hygienic infrastructure that was not there. The the cities that are affected in terms of hydropower. So this cascading impacts of drought is very important. And we need to really look into a systemic approach to drought. And this is one of the challenges that we are looking into trying to bring all sectors of the of the of the country so that when drought strikes, it doesn't just attack your crops only. It affects your health. It affects your tourism. It affects your energy. So I think this national stakeholder dialogue is very important. This is why we try to support countries to come up with a national stakeholder dialogue before they start even developing their plan. So now we have successfully developed this, and now the the thing is very important is also drought impacts are underestimated. I think impact data is very much missing because we always count the number of livestocks that died as a result of drought. But the long term impacts of drought, I was looking at the World Bank data where the drought, children born during times of drought, are more likely to be mentally stagnated or retarded as a result of this. And we don't account for that because it happened. They followed 40 years of drought. The long term impact like the water quality even after rainfall has come. So we don't really account to this comprehensive impact data. And the economics is very important. I think it's very important that we don't talk about lives and livelihoods when we come when we talk about drought. it is economically also worthwhile to be proactive. The nature based solutions on drought that we launched at COP 16, for example, says if you invest one US dollar on a nature based solution, you get a return of 20 up to 27 US dollars. So it makes economic sense also to invest on drought. So the next steps for the UNCCD parties is to turn the national drought plans into investment plans. to make them implementable. And also to really look into how we can coordinate. And the negotiations are, by the way, going on a good positive direction. And I'm very optimistic and I'm very hopeful that we have now this DRI going to grow. And we need to also make it more adaptable. Some countries really need a bit more easier access to it so that they can process it. Some may be advanced. So I think these layers of its simplicity is very important. If a country has a 0.8 drought resilience indicator, and if they are consistent about measuring it, it's fine, because they will just tell us next year I'm 0.85. Then they know their direction. It's not about the accuracy, but again, the direction. So if we do this, I think we have already achieved, and we were brave enough to go into it. It is uncharted territory. So I congratulate the group. And thank you very much. This is what I can say for that. director of communications · Hind Waldman [35:27]: Thank you, Daniel, for this comprehensive answer. So Gabrielle, can you outline, if you made, the different connectors between the Hydra or the link I should say between Idra and the RGDRP. UNCCD · advisor to the Deputy Executive Secretary · Gabriel Lambert [35:48]: Thank you, Hint. Hello to everyone. I want maybe to start with a little background and history of how Idra was created, how it evolved. I'm taking this opportunity to thank, of course, the coaches of the Alliance who initiated that great journey that started in in the Climate Cop 27 in Egypt, where the two presidents of countries announced the establishment of that alliance, which is an alliance of goodwill. of like mining countries who would like to advance drought resilience globally. And it evolved quite nicely because at the very beginning, it was around 20 to 30 members. And nowadays, we have reached 80 members that are structured around a steering committee that is the governing body of the alliance. And that is made to have a balanced geographical representation of countries, but not only countries are there, also international organizations, financial institutions, and civil society organizations. Just also to try to attract all the large range or wide range of stakeholders that are concerned by this topic. So that is very important also to outline here, just to echo the discussions of Doctor Osama and Doctor Yasmin, that we have to connect all of these spaces to together. And the work of the Alliance started effectively in 2023, and it was structured around four pillars. The main one that was the critical one to advance is to put forward drug resilience in the political agenda. This is something that IDRA has quite well achieved since its establishment. And it must continue because it it's never high enough. But still, the work of the alliance has managed to to do that. And then there are several other pillars that are constituting the the work plan of the alliance, the global framework of actions. And that's where we can relate with the RGDRP. Because RGDRP, as also mentioned Doctor Yasmin, is a kind of an umbrella where different financial mechanisms or initiatives could fit into advanced advance drug resilience globally and to support and push for concrete direct project implementation in the ground. The third pillar, very important as well, that has also a big complementarity with the RGDRP is the knowledge sharing pillar. We know that the RGDRP has a knowledge bank. And we have to seek for maybe more integrated synergies. But it's very clear that knowledge bank and knowledge sharing are very complementary. And here I should outline the work that has been done under the UNCCD DROAD Initiative that has been enhanced by Hydra, sorry, is the work of the community of learning and practices that Danielle can also speak more about. And we are super happy to have one chair of the CLP here in the in the room of Latin America that are very active. And I don't know, Daniel how many members are now in the in the CLPs. But there are five CLPs globally covering regional and geographic areas and more than 560 members that are supporting the dissemination of knowledge that are produced either under the UNCCD, but also from other in partnership with other organizations. And that's a clear synergetic point that we would need to enhance between Hydra and the RGDRP. And that's also why the presence of Hydra co-chair members in the RGDRP steering committee is very relevant in here. Last point is the innovative Finance. And Hydra has been the first kickstarter of the Drift, the Drug Resilience Investment Facility that will be further announced later in the in the coming days. And thanks to Hydra, Hydra was the the first money that helped to shape how the GDRP the DRIF, sorry, that is now going to be a very large fund that will support the implementation of drug resilience activity globally under the Riyadh Global Drug Resilience Partnership umbrella, let's say. So that's where we are. And that's the different connectors that we can find here. And of course, the Hydro shall not be forgotten here because that's where we can connect also everything here together with the data, with the knowledge, with the possibility to use that as a tool for concrete implementation that is ultimately related to finance accessibility is a great element to be outlined here. And yeah, the the power of Hydro as well is also connecting the other pillars, the knowledge and the KI possibility and the elements of the Hydro is also enabling all these evidences that are produced to be put in that system and generate additional possibilities for for the tool. So I guess I've said much. We are a bit below behind schedule. So happy to to discuss it later with you once the session is over. But thanks for the for the possibility to discuss this here. director of communications · Hind Waldman [41:03]: Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much both. We have for setting up the scene. Thank you so much. So we're now going to move to our next sessions. So our panelists represent the full pathway we are discussing discussing national policy, international finance, and implementation on the ground. So for this, I would like to call in Colonel Babacardion, who's a Director of Water, Forest, Hunting, and Soil Conservation at Senegal Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition, as well as the IDRA co-chair. Thank you, Colonel. I'd like to call in also Elsa Henriques, who's the Deputy Director General for Forest Policy and Desertification Control at Spain Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic. challenge, as well as the Hydra co-chair. And hopefully we have Thomas Pitot. Hi, Thomas Pitot. He's the regional team leader for environment and energy at the UNDP Regional Hub for Arab States. Thank you very much for the three of you for being here with us today. So let me start with the same question for Colin and Dion and Enrique and sorry Mrs. Enriquez. As Idra co chairs, how do you see the alliance while evolving from building political momentum to directly shaping which project get financed? Who would like to start? Senegal · Director of Water, Forest, Hunting, and Soil Conservation; IDRA co-Chair · Babacar Dion [42:52]: Thank you Inde. Can I speak French? okay Gabriel you can't stress it. Merci merci beaucoup. région de ce panel qui est très importante, comme l'a dit Dr Ossama et Dr Yassmine. Donc Hydra, le Riad Partnership et Hydro sont tenus de travailler en synergie pour aider les communautés à être résilientes face à la sécheresse. Et comme par rapport à la question, on pourra dire que l'évolution est normale, positive et prometteuse. Au vu des résultats obtenus jusque-là, à travers le nombre de membres que nous avons à Hydra, les parcs qui sont franchis par Hydro, mais également le dynamisme du Real Partnership à travers les comités directeurs, mais également du portage qui est fait par les responsables de Hydra et du Riad Partenariatship. C'est donc une réelle prise en charge par les décideurs de ces aspects liés à la sécheresse. et le rythme d'adhésion des pays montre également l'importance de l'Alliance et la nécessité de s'unir pour améliorer la résilience. Et ce triptyque, le triptyque choisi par hydro, à savoir anticipé, préparé, adapté, permet d'être dans la prospective. Et à Daniel qui l'a dit, il ne s'agit plus d'être dans la réactivité, mais il faut être dans la prospective pour pouvoir anticiper. Et ça, ce que Hydro a bien vu pour pouvoir anticiper, préparer, mais permettre aux communautés de s'adapter aux effets liés à la sécheresse. Et nous pensons que les projets qui sont financés ou à venir vont s'intégrer dans cette dynamique-là et pour pouvoir exploiter les données qui sont fournies et produites par Hydro pour permettre une mise en œuvre cohérente, parfaite, mais avoir des résultats probants. Merci. director of communications · Hind Waldman [45:03]: Colonel Dion Mrs Henriquez can I ask you the same question If you can just tell us about how do you see the alliance as well we're all evolving Thank you Spain · Deputy Director General for Forest Policy and Desertification Control; IDRA co-Chair · Elsa Henriques [45:18]: Okay the alliance future in this way to how can the alliance evolve to directly shapes with projects to get finance I think that the previous work of the alliance building political momentum was great but we Have To continue working on that because politicians change from year to year. So it's very important to keep the effort on that issue not to lose the work done by the moment. So first idea to keep working on that. And the second one is that we really thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this new partnership that, they have established on drought resilience. And this extraordinary amount of finance that drought is going to to have. And the International Drug Resilience Alliance is important to say that is part of the steering committee of the React partnership. So from our point of view, we see that it's very important on how we are working together as a member of this Steering Committee of the React Partnership to guide the finance to the proper projects in a global. perspective. And I think that he draw in this way has to play an important role, giving us the clue of what are the main projects, or the important ones that need that finance. And the third idea is that also Hydro has to we we have to assure that Hydro reach as many stakeholders as possible because is going to have a reliable data and scientific analysis. So stakeholders and governments can have the confidence that their budget are going to be implemented in projects with a scientific basis. So we have to keep providing through Hidro, these science and these technical data to priorize the how to invest in this draft project. Thank you so much. So let me come to you, director of communications · Hind Waldman [48:36]: Thomas Pitot. Let's stay with you. And what do you see that is missing? And how a tool like Hydro linked to the RGGRP can help elevate drought resilience in the region, as an example you're currently working on? UNDP · regional team leader for environment and energy · Thomas Pitot [48:55]: Thank you for the question, and thank you for inviting me to this panel. I'm very pleased to be here. It's a very important topic for us in UNDP, and especially in the Arab State region that I'm focusing on. And I think that both Doctor Osama and her excellency, the executive secretary of UNCCD, already outlined what is at stake in the region. globally. But for us in the Arab states, I think it's even more important. What I want to say first in the region is that it's a very diverse region. And the reality that we are facing in, for example, Morocco is not the same that we are facing in Yemen or in Iraq. So we have very diverse countries. And so I think it's Daniel that was talking earlier about the contextualization that is very important. So here, I will be talking more generally about the region and taking into consideration that what I'm saying may a change from one country to another. I think for us, you know, first of all, data is very important and evidence is very important in everything that we do. In UNDP, we work on the short term when we come to preparedness. Preparedness, anticipatory action, early warning system, data is very key to that. Another aspect is the more midterm when it comes to project development and programming. And then the the the third dimension is the long term when we work on policies, strategies, and long term planning. And here again, the data and information is extremely important. So I think what is missing, it has already been said, especially by Daniel earlier, Depending on the country, there is, I think, sometimes the quality of data, and how do we access it? Also, the aspect of quantitative versus qualitative information is very important, and how we deal with that. We are in systems that lack the quantitative dimension, but sometimes the indicator indicators that we have, have some issues in identifying the qualitative dimension. And I think that this is something that we can work on. And where I see it draw Hydro and Hydra contributing a lot. Another dimension that was mentioned earlier is the siloed issues. What we see is that up to now, water has been taken in in the different sectors. So for example, you have the Ministry of Water, Water Management Agency, agencies that will see water, for example, for agriculture. We will have different ministries and different agencies at the national level that will not necessarily share the information. And that will be very much focused into what they are doing, and what drought is implying for their sector. So as it was said earlier, drought is a very multidisciplinary and a cross sector issue. And I think what is very important is to bring those different sectors together so that we can exchange information both at the national level and then, of course, at the regional level. And I think what is very important for Hidro is the knowledge exchange and data exchange among the different countries. And here I think it's another challenge that we have especially in in my region, is how do we get countries exchange data about water. It's it's very challenging. And I think for us, sometimes we have a hard time to understand that because we see water from our drought from a technical perspective. But what we don't understand is that it's also a security dimension. And if we want sharing water or drought really related data is about the national security. And when I am a country, I don't want necessarily my neighbor to know the issue that I'm facing because it has this security dimension. And I think that we don't speak enough to, for example, the Ministry of Interiors, the Ministry of Defense, that have also a hand on these data from a security perspective. And I think that the the Hydro and the the applying a multi-dimensional approach to drought, water management, and drought management is is helping us to advance into that direction. And then also, what was mentioned by the colleagues is that we talk a lot about the drought management plan. But drought needs to be integrated into the development plan. It needs to be integrated into the national budget. So we need to do tagging. And all of that requires information. So I see Hydro playing a key role into that. The RGDRP, I think, takes into has different pillars. One of them and I think it's output 1.1 of the RGDRP is about information systems, data, early warning systems. And so here, I think it will be key in informing the RGDRP. It will be key also, as I said, in preparedness, when when we talk about contingency planning. And when we talk about contingency planning, one dimension that is very important is the scenario. So to develop the scenario, we need and I'm linking that to also what the colleague Daniel was saying about the prospective dimension. We need to be able to have modeling and I think that's also one of the missing points that we've been dealing with, is that we have basically the data of yesterday to do the plan and the policy and the programs of tomorrow. And we need to be more on the prospective to understand what the world of tomorrow will be. In order to have policies that are relevant for the world of our children, not the world of today, no? And that, I think, is very important for the Hydro to play a role. Another and maybe last last thing that I want to say is that Yes, Heathrow will be informing action probably at the country level. But it's also I think I see that as a tool to get the data and the information from the country, to inform also the global community on how and and what we should be doing. So this dual relationship between bottom up and top down approach is also very important. And I think he draw and the RGDRP will complement each other quite well in that sense. Thank you. director of communications · Hind Waldman [57:19]: Thank you so much. And just to just to comment quickly on what you've just said, you know, for the next phase, this is exactly what we are trying to integrate, that scenario approach, hoping that you will be there for the next release phase three. So thank you. Just another question to you, Colin and Dion. What would make hydro evidence generally usable in your own country in Senegal, or in your own country's resilience planning, and beyond what it is already offering today. Senegal · Director of Water, Forest, Hunting, and Soil Conservation; IDRA co-Chair · Babacar Dion [58:04]: Merci. merci Par rapport aux preuves évidentes, je pense que nous avons vu le lien entre Hydra et Riyadh Partners et Hachip. Et Hydro est un outil d'aide à la décision qui, je pense que si les gens ont déjà visité la phase un et les projections pour la phase 2 seront que les données qui sont produites, les informations qui sont produites par Hydro sont très importantes pour les décideurs. Ça leur permet d'attirer leur attention, mais de toucher du doigt l'importance des effets de la CCRS sur les quatre domaines qui ont été présentés par Edgar ici. On en a parlé et qui laissent un secteur. On a parlé de l'économie, de l'agriculture, mais la sécurité en tant que tel. Parce que quand on parle de sécurité alimentaire, à la longue, ça entraîne des migrants migrations et ça entraîne des insécurités dans les lieux d'accueil. Mais comme docteur Ossama l'avait dit également, la dégradation des terres est la cause de la CCRS. Et donc pour dire que c'est un ensemble global qui impacte aussi bien les couches sociales, mais également les trucs. Donc cet outil d'aide à la décision montre les preuves et les évidences qui sont très documentées, par exemple pour le Sénégal, avec les différentes thématiques, on nous a permis de voir par rapport aux domaines liés aux infrastructures, quels sont les effets de cette CCRS sur ces infrastructures, sur la durabilité, mais sur un peu l'efficience de ces de ces infos. Par rapport à la dimension sociale également, c'est par rapport au moins de subsistance. Il y a une perte de moyens de subsistance, une perte de revenus et ça entraîne également des mouvements de personnes et des conflits dans les sites d'accueil, mais également des problèmes de santé, des problèmes de santé, parce que l'insécurité alimentaire également rime avec une insécurité sanitaire, mais une insécurité économique et une insécurité psychologique et psychique. Donc il y a ces aspects. Par rapport à la dimension écologique et environnementale, nous avons une perte de biodiversité. Parce que quand les terres sont dégradées, il y a une perte de biodiversité en termes de ressources floristiques, mais en termes de ressources de ressources fauniques. Donc, et cela impacte sur la biodiversité en tant que telle. Et ça, en effet, sur les effets liés aux changements climatiques. Les capacités de séquestration de ces écosystèmes sont réduites et cela donc induit sur la pluviométrie, mais sur les rendements de production et sur les revenus, mais même sur le produit intérieur brut de ces différents pays. Cela implique donc la nécessité d'une parfaite appropriation par les utilisateurs de ce système, mais le fait de consolider les acquis de la phase I de Hydro permettra de mieux insister sur certaines thématiques, sur certains certains indicateurs, et le fait de partager avec les décideurs, ça permettra une meilleure appréciation, mais ça leur permet de mieux comprendre. Parce que si on prend l'exemple du Sénégal également, chaque année, nous produisons le rapport sur les risques budgétaires que nous envoient au ministère des Finances et cela permet un peu, dans leur budgétisation, de pouvoir prendre, de faire des provisions pour prendre en charge les effets liés à à cette sécheresse, notamment les faux de brousse, les risques et catastrophes naturels, mais également les les inondations. Et ça, c'est des rapports qui donnent des indications, une évaluation de ces risques budgétaires liés à la CCRS pour permettre à l'Etat de se préparer pour l'année à venir par rapport aux prévisions budgétaires, mais par rapport également à une aide sur les décisions à prendre où il faudra. mettre de l'argent pour pouvoir aider à la résilience de ces communautés. Pour cela, il est important pour la phase 2 de Hydro de pouvoir, par rapport aux pays pilotes qui ont été choisis, les 8 pays, de voir, à travers l'information et l'appropriation, sur quoi insister pour mieux améliorer les informations liées à la séquestration de carbone, aux pertes économiques mais également aux interactions entre les différents secteurs. Merci. director of communications · Hind Waldman [1:02:38]: Merci colonel. I'm going to come back to you Mrs. Henry Hans. What and you know moving Moving on from Ijo, and the question to you is, what other element developed by Ijra can be particularly complementary to the RGDRP? Spain · Deputy Director General for Forest Policy and Desertification Control; IDRA co-Chair · Elsa Henriques [1:03:01]: Okay thank you. I must say first that the relation with the Riyadh partnership with Hydra is totally complementary. because while ISRA provides political leadership, strategic direction, knowledge generation, and advocacy, the Riyadh Partnership serves as a Catholic platform to mobilize and align multilateral, bilateral development, and private sector finance are about common principles and objectives. So we are totally aligned in our objectives And we don't have overlays because the the alliance and the partnership has has been coordinating, and they are going to be coordinated through the steering committees, through both the steering committees of the Alliance and the Partnership. to avoid these these overlays. What other elements that can be put in place. I'm talking about Hydro because Hydro we think is the tool that to to both the Alliance and the Partnership are going to rely on Hydro to make decisions, is to use Hydro as a tool that. can provide us can provide managers and politicians. Maybe through the modeling how data or scientific analysis on how drought is going to be evolving in different countries, in different regions. Or generally, to plan in the mid and in the large term. So we think that we must work on that. Also talking about the Spanish case, it could be very useful that it can provide us also maybe through the community learning practice, what other sectors are involved. Because as Thomas has said, for instance, in Spain, it's very important, the civil security aspect, as Thomas has said, because we have droughts, of course, but also we have floods. and the civil security aspect in this case is very, very important. And we have to be coordinated with another ministries, of course. So through the community learning practice, we can have lesson learned from these cases. So these are maybe the main elements that we have to work on. director of communications · Hind Waldman [1:06:39]: Thank you so much for this great response. And thank you so much for our speakers here, for sharing your insights. Thank you so much. So now we are going to move from principle to practice. And for this, I would like to call in on Edgar Gutierrez, the IDRA senior policy advisor and former minister of environment and energy of Costa Rica. Sana Diop from Senegal. Sana is the advisor to Senegal to Senegal's Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition. And I'd like to call in also on Mandy Pretorius, who's a post doctoral with Yale Center for Ecosystem and Architecture. So drawing on your own experience as a minister, Edgar, could you tell us what actually convinces a minister to prioritize resilience investment over competing demands as an example? Edgar, this question is to you. IDRA · Senior Policy Advisor; former minister of environment and energy · Edgar Gutierrez [1:07:58]: It's hard to hear from here. director of communications · Hind Waldman [1:08:00]: Oh, you can't hear? IDRA · Senior Policy Advisor; former minister of environment and energy · Edgar Gutierrez [1:08:00]: Yeah. But anyhow, that's fine. director of communications · Hind Waldman [1:08:04]: Would you like me to repeat the question? Yeah, please. Okay. So, drawing on your own experience as a minister since you were the Minister of the Environment of Costa Rica, what actually convinces a minister to prioritize a resilient investment over competing demands? IDRA · Senior Policy Advisor; former minister of environment and energy · Edgar Gutierrez [1:08:23]: Let me let me let me where is who's going to manage the presentation? Let me give you a presentation about how I can see. the journey from resilience route response to resilience governance. I think it's very important that we can dimension the impact of Hydro and the DRI within this this context. Where is the presentation? I think this is a very critical thing, very critical thing to understand in the right dimension. With this presentation, I want to try to outline the strategic uses of a proposed proud resilience index, or DRI, as a decision support system. It aims to improve our collective decision making and strengthen national preparedness for broad events. This is not about claiming national validation or deployment, but rather exploring how such a system could support not replace our existing expertise and processes. Next. With this slide, we highlight the critical shift we need to make. This is very critical. Route is a complex system wide challenge, and our current reactive approach often leads to emergency firefighting. fragmented planning, and delayed interventions. The proposed DRI aims to support a transition to resilience governance, fostering sustainable anticipation, integrated coordination across sectors, system wide visibility of risk, and continuous adaptation. This framework help us move beyond simply reacting to proactively building resilience. Next. This slide also shows to us the strategic value of the National DRI. Focusing on four key pillars, it provides a common language for comparing resilience gaps across all sectors and regions, enhancing system visibility to expose critical dependencies before they become crisis. The DRI also offers transparent prioritization, linking budgets to demonstrated needs, and fosters continuous learning And this is very important. This approach aligns with global best practices from organizations like the WMO and UNCCD. Please remember, this is very important. The DRI is a decision support system it supports, but that does not replace expert judgment or political decision making. Next. The DRI, as a proposed underlying architecture showing how to integrate various dimensions and domains. It's designed to identify systemic weaknesses, especially where intersections between sectors might fail. We are looking at three key dimensions anticipation, preparedness, and adaptation across four critical domains the built environment, natural environment, people and community, and the economy. This framework is illustrative, showing how a decision support system can help us understand and address route resilience holistically. Next. Building on the overview, this slide details how the DRI supports critical decision making, particularly in establishing a baseline and enhancing anticipation. The DRI is designed to move us from reactive responses to proactive resilience. It helps establish a natural resilience baseline, identifying weak points across regions and sectors before a route drought event. It also creates a cross-government risk picture, integrating diverse data to align ministries around a common understanding. Furthermore, the DRI facilitates early action triggers by linking monitoring with resilience data, enabling timely activation of resources. Finally, it supports dependency and cascade mapping using a scenario analysis to understand how constraints propagate across systems informing coordinated multi sector actions. Next. Moving to preparedness and learning, the DRI help us test functional preparedness by verifying that our plants actually work in practice. During an active drought event, it help us target binding bottlenecks, ensuring emergency resources are directed where they provide the most systemic value. For long term budgeting and adaptation, the DRI allow us to prioritize structural investment based on documented resilient gaps, creating a transparent evidence backed portfolio. And finally, post route, it helps drive accountability and learning by comparing outcomes to the baseline, allowing us to formally revise policies and plans for continuous improvement. Next. This slide visually reinforces how the DRI supports a continuous integrated resilience cycle. We start by establishing a baseline and a line with a shared foundation, then anticipate through systemic detection. This informs informs how we prepare and invest with structural actions. And finally, we learn and revise to evolve the system. And this continuous loop ensures that the post drought learning forms the next baseline revision, creating a sustained feedback mechanism across all phases of drought management. And to improve our our ways towards strengthening the capacity of our countries to face a drought event. I'm going to cut here my presentation, because it seems that we are very much behind time. But I put myself as a minister and say, how could I apply this in a practical way, you know, if I were still minister? And I have that already there, but I can share that presentation with anyone interested in seeing how I would have done it if I would have been still in office in Costa Rica. Gladly, I'm not there, but director of communications · Hind Waldman [1:15:33]: Thank you so much, Edgar. Thank you for this presentation. Mandy, in phase two, we have developed new case stories. Currently, we have eight case stories. in the platform alongside 19 country profiles. So what do these stories add to the data, like on the e-draw, and how do they help us to better understand a country's drought resilience? Can you touch on that, please? post doctoral · Mandy Pretorius [1:16:04]: Thank you, Hind. Well, what's really critical, as we've emphasized, is linking data with actionable insights and decision making, and really to lead it to how do we plan, how do we budget, and where do we invest. And the case stories are examples of the case story representative countries exactly that. For instance, as Doctor Sama referred to earlier with the emphasis on desalination capacity, the introduction on an extensive investment thereof, what you can see with something like desalination is a linking to multiple as an action linkable linking to multiple drought resilience index indicators. For instance, how we see the impact on reducing the demand on on groundwater aquifers. and how that links to natural environment, how that how we're increasing water security, and so you're improving people in community. And for instance, how I can the economy is played out in terms of how the critical investment in the desalination is linked to an understanding of the water energy nexus. And how we are making sure that there's a diverse diversity of water. sources, that it's climate responsive, climate resilient, and how it's also then linking back to smart investments in agriculture and irrigation practices. So that case story, for example, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is showing how, from the challenges that the kingdom is facing to the particular irrelevant issues and the indicators as part of the resilience framework, critical actions are really touching on all these to build resilience. long term. director of communications · Hind Waldman [1:17:44]: Thank you so much, Mandy. And I think the way we also have those case stories structures, the four key takeaways per case stories also can inform other countries about the resilience that's been taken in the place and for experience purposes. Sanaa, you were involved with us developing the case story for Senegal. we developed the first case story that we presented at COP 16 in Riyadh. And we have continued developing this case story for this COP 17. Can you tell us what has changed since that first story? And also, how can the evidence now could help Senegal, a country like Senegal, move toward more of a concrete investment pipeline? Senegal · advisor to Senegal's Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition · Sana Diop [1:18:37]: Thank you so much for that question. In 2024, when we launched the Idro, I was really curious about how the data will show up in the platform. And yeah, for me, since that beginning, that was really amazing. At that time, the objective was really clear. And that was to demonstrate how Israel could help countries move from reaching to drought towards anticipating risk, strengthening resilience, and making better informed decisions. I think we we did a great job on that phase one. Um today I'm pleased to say we have moved forward. Um from that initial case story. In 2024, we were essentially asking what does drought resilience look like for Senegal? And what information do we need to understand it? Today we are asking a much more practical question. Where our resilience gaps? Where are our resilient gaps? What should we prioritize? And how can we turn that evidence into? So the evolution of hydro, and particularly the drought resilience index, gives Senegal an important opportunity to make that transition. Our case story is becoming more integrated actually. We are looking at people and communities. Um preparedness, the natural environment, land degradation, ecosystem restorations, and adaptation, which is really great. These matters because drought is not only climate events as Doctor Osama said, we should think about how to anticipate this is critical actually. It impacts the depend on the condition of our ecosystems. Um the preparedness of our communities and institutions and our capacity to manage land. Um and water sustainability. And this is where I see the real value actually of the evolution from the initial case story. We can move from describing the vulnerability to identifying resilient gaps. And from resilient gaps, we can begin to define investment now. So if evidence shows us where degradation, drought exposure, and low adaptive capacity converge, then actually we can either identify concrete package of of action. Like landscape restoration, sustainable management, water security, community resilience, preparedness, and early action. This is Kri. Senegal, therefore, for Senegal, the ambition is to use ITRO as a bridge. Can I say like a very strong cement bridge actually. Uh between evidence, policy, and finance. We want to move progressively from isolated projects towards prioritized evidence based and geographically targeted investment pipelines. Because ultimately we need to ensure not only where is the vulnerability But also where can investment make the greatest difference? Um I can stop there and maybe later if having the occasion call on real actions. Thank you. director of communications · Hind Waldman [1:23:09]: Thank you so much, Sana. And this is a great example on how the case stories are illustrated in the Eagle and we are hoping to add more countries at the moment, we covered Senegal at a national level, but we can certainly add on additional story more at the regional level. Thank you so much for your collaboration on this case story. So I think unfortunate unfortunately, we are running out of time, sadly. But I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of the participants and speakers for your great insights. And we would like to invite also anyone and everyone who would like to learn more about Hydro to join us just behind you at the BIM Lab. We are running a demonstration every day as well. So please join us, and come and learn about Ijo and also try to sign up to get a registration access to share your feedback also with us to further improve this platform. Thank you so much everyone for your time.