UN calls on nations to adopt drought policies

GENEVA — Top officials with the U.N. weather agency say there’s an urgent need for nations to adopt drought-management policies as farmers from Africa to India struggle with lack of rainfall and the United States endures the worst drought it has experienced in decades.

The World Meteorological Organization says the U.S. drought and its ripple effects on global food markets show the need for policies with more water conservation and less consumption.

WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said Tuesday the world must “move away from a piecemeal, crisis-driven approach and develop integrated risk-based national drought policies” because of climate change projections for more drought.

Mannava V.K. Sivakumar, director of WMO’s climate prediction and adaptation branch, says the advantage of policies is that they require national action no matter who is in political power.