April 14, 1999 Hazard Series Presentation

by Donald A. Wilhite, PhD.

Director, National Drought Mitigation Center
and the
International Drought Information Center

Drought

SUMMARY

EIIP Classroom Online Presentation
Wednesday - April 14, 1999 - 12:00 Noon EDT

The National Drought Mitigation Center

Donald Wilhite, PhD
Director
National Drought Mitigation Center
and
the International Drought Information Center

The EIIP Virtual Classroom speaker was Dr. Don Wilhite, professor of agricultural climatology in the School of Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and director of the National Drought Mitigation Center <http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc> and the International Drought Information Center.

Dr. Wilhite briefly described the history and purpose of the National Drought Mitigation Center explaining that the NDMC helps people and institutions develop and implement measures to reduce societal vulnerability to drought. The NDMC stresses preparation and risk management rather than crisis management to local, state, tribal, and federal governments, regional organizations, the private sector, as well as international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and foreign governments. The presentation covered NDMC products and activities, the challenges of the drought hazard, NDMC drought planning and mitigation assistance, and a look at the most likely states and parts of the world to suffer drought in the near future.

DONALD A. WILHITE, PhD.

Director, National Drought Mitigation Center
and the
International Drought Information Center

Dr. Wilhite is professor of agricultural climatology in the School of Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is Director of the National Drought Mitigation Center and the International Drought Information Center. Dr. Wilhite also serves as advisor to the National Drought Policy Commission, formed in 1999 after passage of the National Drought Policy Act in 1998 by the U.S. Congress. He has also served as technical advisor to the Western Drought Coordination Council, formed in 1997 under the auspices of the Western Governors' Association. He specializes in studies of the impact of climate on society and societal response to climatic events. Dr. Wilhite has worked with governments and international organizations on drought planning and policy issues for more than 15 years. Dr. Wilhite and his staff have recently organized and conducted a series of training workshops on drought contingency planning in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil.

Dr. Wilhite is the editor of Drought, to be published in 2000 by Routledge Publishers as part of a 9-volume series on natural hazards and disasters. He is editor of Drought Assessment, Management, and Planning: Theory and Case Studies, published by Kluwer Academic Press in 1993 and co-editor of Planning for Drought: Toward a Reduction of Societal Vulnerability, published by Westview Press in 1987. He has authored a guidebook on drought preparedness for developing countries under sponsorship of the U.N. Environment Program and Dr. Wilhite was also the principal organizer of the joint U.S./Canadian symposium, Planning for a Sustainable Future: The Case of the North American Great Plains, held in Lincoln, Nebraska, in May 1995. He has authored or co-authored more than 90 journal articles, monographs, book chapters, and technical reports in the past ten years.

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