Proceedings of the regional knowledge forum on drought: Earth observation and climate services for food security and agricultural decision making in South and Southeast Asia

The majority of Asia’s rural population depends on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihood. However, due to the effects of climate change, agricultural production faces increasing pressure from frequent and extreme climatic events such as droughts and floods. ICIMOD and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), under the framework of the SERVIR Initiative, organized a three-day ‘Regional knowledge forum on drought: Climate services for food security and agricultural decision making in South and Southeast Asia’ in October 2018. The forum reviewed and assessed existing national practices and policies related to drought monitoring and forecasting, crop monitoring and agriculture advisory services, and cross learning relevant to countries in the HKH and the lower Mekong region.