1. Regional Cooperation for Combating Sand and Dust Storms in Asia and the Pacific
Ms. Tiziana Bonapace
Director, Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division
International Conference on Combating Sand and Dust Storms
Tehran, Iran. 3-5 July 2017

2. Resolution 72/7. Regional cooperation to combat Sand and Dust Storm in Asia and the Pacific
Requests the Executive Secretary to:
Within existing mandates and expertise, accord priority focus on the work of the Commission relating to sand and dust storms as a great transboundary challenge;
Work, including through the Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM), as well as with other relevant regional organizations, utilizing a combination of existing funds and extra-budgetary contributions, to promote regional and interregional networking on sand and dust storms;
Work closely with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in those Countries experiencing serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa in the process of preparing the global assessment on sand and dust storms;

3. SDS Transboundary Sources and Impacts
Source: DOI: / __3  In book: Mineral Dust- A Key Player In The Earth System, Chapter: Identifying Sources of Aeolian Mineral Dust: past and present., Publisher: Springer, Editors: J.B. Stuut, P. Knippertz, pp.51-74
URL:

4. Case Study 1, SDS as an Extensive Risk: Cumulative damage costs of dust storms in Zabol (Sistan) region during 2000–2004
Damage center
Damage costs (×1000 US$)
Roads
5,636
Community health
31,200
School breaks (enforced holidays)
1,324
Sand aggregation in residential areas
10,789
House cleaning and repairs
75,900
Blackouts
694
Irrigation channels
3,899
Flight cancellation
358
Market economic
35,150
Agriculture
48,300
TOTAL
213,250
It covers an area of approximately 15,197 square km and has a population of about 400,000.
Miri, Abbas , Ahmadi, Hasan , Ekhtesasi, Mohammad Reza , Panjehkeh, Naser and Ghanbari, Ahmad (2009) 'Environmental and socio-economic impacts of dust storms in Sistan Region, Iran', International Journal of Environmental Studies, 66: 3, 343 — 355
To link to this Article: DOI: /
URL:
A. Pahlavanravi, A. Miri, H. Ahmadi, M.R. Ekhtesasi, (2012), The Impacts of Different Kinds of Dust Storms in Hot and Dry
Climate, A Case Study in Sistan Region
Total No. of Days with SDS: 338 in 5 yrs

5. Case Study 2, SDS as an Intensive Risk: China (Northwest) – May 5th 1993
Sector
Loss
People (dead) 85
People (missing) 31
People (injured)
264
Livestock (dead)
120,000
Livestock (missing)
>730,000
Settlement
4,412
Crop (destroyed)
373,000ha
Fruit tree (damaged)
16,300ha
Greenhouses and plastic mulching sheds
1,000s
Irrigation channel (buried by sand accumulation)
>1,000km
Communication poles and electricity grids
6,021
Railway and highway
Partially interrupted due to sand accumulation >30 hrs
Water resource back-up facilities
Reservoirs, dams, catchments, underground canals and flood control installations were filled up with sand silts.
Total Damage
$70 million
Source: Yang et al. United Nations, UNNCD, 2001, Global Alarms: Dust and Sand Storms from the World’s Dryland (Bonn: UNNCD).
Source: Yang et al. United Nations, UNNCD, 2001, Global Alarms: Dust and Sand Storms from the World’s Dryland (Bonn: UNNCD).

6. Combatting SDS - Gaps Information Cooperation Capacity
Information is quite generic, and not actionable for implementing DSS mitigation plans.
The scale of SDS risk information is quite vast, and varies from regional and national to local levels.
There are not enough assessments on the impact of SDS in various sectors, and at national and regional levels.
Cooperation
There is a need to deepen cooperation between countries that are SDS sources (hotspots) and the affected areas at regional as well as inter-regional levels, to bring about synergy and coherence among the various initiatives.
Capacity
Managing SDS requires substantial capacity for risk reduction and mitigation actions. The capacity of countries exposed to SDS, needs to be enhanced substantially for combating SDS with well-informed risk-sensitive plans of action.

7. Macro-economic planning and finance Disaster Risk Reduction
ESCAP’s Comparative Advantages - Multi-sectoral Approach and Inter-governmental Platform
Space Application
Environment
Macro-economic planning and finance
Disaster Risk Reduction
Analytical Work
Multi-hazard Risk Assessment and Early Warning System
Capacity Development
Statistics
(Geospatial modeling)

8. ESCAP’s Approach for Transboundary Disaster Resilience
ESCAP Commission
Regional Cooperation Mechanisms For
Multi-hazard Early Warning System
ESCAP Multi-Donor Trust Fund
for Tsunami, Disaster & Climate Preparedness
ESCAP Intergovernmental Consultative Committee on Regional Space Application Programme for Sustainable Development (RESAP)
ESCAP Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction
ESCAP/WMO
Typhoon Committee
& WMO/ESCAP
Panel on Tropical Cyclones
Regional Drought Mechanism
Flood Forecasting & Flash flood and Landslide Early Warning
Tsunami
Early Warning System
Deepening regional cooperation mechanisms
Extension to Makran subduction
zone
Extension to
the Pacific
ASEAN
Extension to Sand & Dust storms
Networks
WMO
UNESCO-IOC
UNITAR / UNOSAT
GEOSS Asia-Pacific
Sentinel Asia
Asia-Pacific RCM
ASEAN-UN Joint Strategic Plan of Action on Disaster Management
GIZ
Partnerships, one UN approach
The Commission may wish to provide guidance on how the secretariat can strengthen its work on transboundary hazard and deepen its work on regional cooperation for disaster risk reduction and resilience in Asia and the Pacific.

9. ESCAP Regional Drought Mechanism
Field observation
Regional Service Nodes
Meteorological data
Drought management tools, products and services
Need assessment
Specialized training
Country Profile
Being able to monitor drought during the growing season is a valuable tool for decision makers as it allows them to see what districts or communities may need support, such as additional water, food or social protection measures.
Drought is like many other disasters - neglected and often dealt with in a reactionary way when circumstances become crises. It is possibly easier and more cost effective to adapt to drought before the impacts are felt, particularly over the long term with the potential impacts of climate change.
Science and technology has advanced to provide many options for forecasting and monitoring, to be aware of the potential onset of drought, and to manage and adapt to its potential impacts.
The Regional Drought Mechanism started as a regional cooperation initiative, to bring together countries experienced in utilizing space applications and countries who could use the information and tools, but simply don’t have the knowledge capacity to do so.
ESCAP is also bringing in other countries experienced in other aspects of drought management and is increasingly expanding its work to move beyond monitoring and early warning, to incorporate seasonal forecasts, longer term risk analysis, water catchment assessment and accounting, and other tools and services for managing and adapting to drought.
The ultimate vision for the Regional Drought Mechanism is to create a toolbox or menu of products, information and services to support drought management.
These are provided by various countries and partners through regional cooperation - twinning with drought-prone developing countries to support their movement towards building resilience to drought.
Our goal is also work with the various institutions involved to help bring in the capacity to use these tools themselves and to ensure the information is used effectively.
Tools, products and services for managing drought
Institutional capacity building to manage drought effectively
END RESULT

10. Regional Drought Mechanism: Sub-regional Specificities
Service Nodes
China
India
Thailand
Australia (tentative)
 El Niño 
La Niña
Satellite data
Drought indices
Knowledge
Collateral data
Country profile
Knowledge
At the moment ESCAP has been primarily working in tropical monsoon countries such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, though we have also worked with Mongolia which has a climate more closely aligned to this subregion.
We have been working with our core partners in China and India, with additional support from Thailand and others, to provide the technical expertise, tools and products for using space applications for drought monitoring and early warning.
We are increasingly expanding to other partners, such as those in Australia who have expertise in water accounting and management.
Likewise, we have had requests from a number of countries to join the Drought Mechanism. In Central Asia, for example, Kyrgyzstan has requested to become a pilot and leader among Central Asian countries with respect to drought management.
Pilot Countries
Mongolia
Myanmar
Sri Lanka
Cambodia …
Monsoon variability
(Drought)
Customizing arid and semi-arid for monitoring
desertification and Dust/Sand Storms

11. Combining 3 ecological zones
Customized Drought Indices delivered through ESCAP Regional Drought Mechanism
Forest
Steppe
Desert steppe
mosaic
Drought mapping was made combined by 3 regions which has more than 50% correlation including forest, steppe, desert steppe. The correlations between RS index and Drought index calculated by meteorological parameter were different in various natural zones separately.
In this example from Mongolia, the drought monitoring system is tailored to the country.
3 key agro-ecological zones were identified and a variety of drought indices were tested and calibrated for each zone.
The final tool was verified on the ground by our experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
This monitoring tool is currently being used in Mongolia, and they are working on developing one for dzud, or the severe winter drought they experience.

12. SDS Risk Assessment in Mongolia
Annual average number of days with dust storms
NOAA AVHRR 4,5/TERRA MODIS data for Soil Moisture Variations
Closely linked with customized drought indices
Annual average number of dusty days observed in Mongolia.
Source: National University of Mongolia (

13. ESCAP’s Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) Tehran. Islamic Republic of Iran
Three pillars conveying APDIM’s thematic priorities
Information and knowledge management
Regional repository of databases, information and knowledge
Regional hub of new tools, techniques and standards for information management
Capacity development
Regional capacity development hub for exchange of expertise, experiences and knowledge
To provide demand driven and customized training services to address the information and knowledge gaps
Regional information services for cross-border disasters
Specialized services (geospatial & statistical) for cross-border disasters
Regional information
(maps & databases) for cross-border disasters
APDIM’s thematic priorities were identified in past expert group meetings and at stakeholder consultations undertaken for APDIM. These include:
Development of the Centre as an information and knowledge hub for multiple hazards for assessment of disaster risk, vulnerability and exposure.
Setting the Centre as a leading hub for capacity development in disaster information management.
Provision of specialized regional information services for cross-border disasters.
Under pillar 1, APDIM will:
Develop appropriate guidelines, tools and standards to build institutional capacity of high-risk developing member States, and facilitate development of customized solutions from risk-sensitive development planning to investments, and regular monitoring and evaluation to better account for risk and vulnerability.
Collect and consolidate existing data and information on disaster risks in vulnerable subregions from a range of institutions, develop an information hub, and disseminate such information through an information portal. The system may be linked with national, subregional, regional and international initiatives.
Under pillar 2:
APDIM’s capacity development strategy possesses a multi-track approach targeted at high-risk low-capacity countries, comprising the following sub-components:
Specialized capacity development training (at national and regional levels to address operational needs and gaps in information management);
APDIM’s Primer Series of customized training modules on information management tools (for: risk assessment of earthquake, flood, cyclone, drought, desertification, sand and dust storms; damage and loss assessment for post-disaster needs assessment/PDNA; recovery and reconstruction; and seismic microzonation and spatial land-use planning);
APDIM’s e-learning platform (will provide online capacity development training modules for information management);
An e-collaborative hub for information and knowledge-sharing (to capitalize on partnership networks at national, regional and global levels).
Analytical & normative work:
APDIM will carry out analytical studies to capture disaster trends (including exposure and vulnerability issues – at subregional level, to provide actionable recommendations on disaster information management, planning technical assistance and facilitating capacity-building services).
These reports will complement the biennial ESCAP Asia-Pacific Disaster Report, and contribute to review of progress in implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework.
Under pillar 3, APDIM will:
Undertake risk visualization, assessing spatial and temporal components of transboundary risk in regional and national contexts.
Add value to existing tools free-for-use data, by contextualizing existing information using georeferenced data.
Serve as a repository for a geospatial database on sand and dust storms in the ESCAP subregions, and work closely with UNCCD, UNEP and WMO.
Sand and Dust Storm

14. APDIM strategic plan Partnership strategy
Partnerships at regional, subregional and national levels will be undertaken for scaling up innovation and good practices in disaster information management
(Thematic Working Group on
Disaster Risk Reduction & Resilience)
UNISDR, UNDP, UNOCHA
(others)
UNEP, WMO,
UNCCD, UN-GGIM
Global Earthquake Model
(Regional organizations)
ECO, SPECA, SAARC/SDMC, BIMSTEC, ASEAN, SPC, SPREP
(Education/training networks, centres of excellence)
ADPC, ADRC, RIMES, CESDRR
BHRC, NCC, IISEE
Department of Environment/
centres of research
National
Regional
Global
APDIM will nurture a broad range of partnerships in the national, regional and global contexts. Strategic partnerships will also be undertaken with UN system entities, regional and subregional organizations, civil society, and the private sector to support the above initiatives.
As part of the partnership strategy, APDIM will:
Capitalize on institutional capacities of the APDIM partnership group, and draw on the expertise, facilities and resources for capacity-building offered by the centres of excellence in Iran.
Collaborate with the subregional offices of ESCAP in South and South-West Asia, North and Central Asia, North and East Asia, and the Pacific to organize regional and subregional workshops. It will also work with the United Nations Country Team in Iran.
Collaborate with respective regional organizations; such as ECO, SPECA, SAARC, ASEAN and SPC amongst others.
Set up partnerships with networks and centres of excellence in education and training, such as ADPC and RIMES, amongst others.
Mobilize partnerships between ESCAP, UNISDR, UNDP and OCHA – established through the Thematic Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience (TWG-D3R) of the Asia-Pacific Regional Coordination Mechanism.

15. NEASPEC (North-East Asian Sub-regional Program for Environmental Cooperation)
Established: 1993
Members: China, Japan, Mongolia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Russia, Republic of Korea + ESCAP
NEASPEC deals with transboundary air pollution, Sand and Dust Storm and desertification, nature conservation, marine protection and establishing eco-efficient partnerships.
ESCAP serves member states to facilitate multilateral cooperation.
NEASPEC structural issues:
Inconsistency of the responsible bodies in different countries.
Due to broad mandate, NEASPEC’s work often overlaps with other organizations more focused on one specific issue, which can lead to duplication of efforts and inconsistency of approaches.
In the case of China, North Korea and South Korea, Foreign Ministries are responsible. In Japan, Mongolia and Russia Environment Ministries are responsible.

16. #1. Customizing ESCAP Regional Drought Mechanism to combat SDS
Customizing ESCAP’s Drought Mechanism for combatting SDS: Given the strong correlation of soil moisture and vegetation -and consequently drought- with SDS, ESCAP’s Drought Mechanism may be customized with tools and techniques tailored for DSS, and extended to the subregional level covering South, South-West and Central Asia.
Organizing specialized capacity development training in SDS following the south-south cooperation modality
Capitalizing on APDIM partnership groups - DoE, IMO, National Cartographic Centre, Tehran University etc. to implement the work programme on combatting the DSS
APDIM to provide technical support – with IDD along with Regional Service Nodes – China, India and Iran (to be developed)

17. Phase 2. Extend this to North and Central Asia
#2. Replication of NEASPEC in South, South West and Central to combat SDS
Phase 1. To recast NEASPEC in South and South West Asia (SSWA), involving the member States of Afghanistan, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey; partners include WMO, UNEP and UNCCD; as well as an inter-regional networking platform to cover other DSS sources and affected countries.
Phase 2. Extend this to North and Central Asia
APDIM to provide technical support

18. #3. Proposed Organizational Structure
DSS
UNCCD
WMO
UNEP
ESCAP
Key UN Agencies Involved
APDIM
ECA Member States
ESCAP Member States
ESCWA Member States
ESCWA
ECA
Knowledge network
Networking platform
ESCAP can facilitate for reginal and inter-regional cooperation, directly or through APDIM. (referring to resolution 72/7 - 6 a, b & c)

19. Thank you..
ESCAP can facilitate for reginal and inter-regional cooperation, directly or through APDIM. (referring to resolution 72/7 - 6 a, b & c)