WMO, together with the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) and the School of Natural Resources of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (USA), organized the Inter-Regional Workshop on Indices and Early Warning Systems for Drought at the University of Nebraska in December 2009. The Lincoln Declaration on Drought Indices recommended that a working group with representatives from different regions around the world and observers from UN agencies and research institutions (and water resource management agencies for hydrological droughts) be established to further discuss and recommend, by the end of 2010, the most comprehensive index to characterize agricultural drought.
Accordingly, WMO and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), in collaboration with the Hydrographical Confederation of Segura River Basin and the State Agency for Meteorology of Spain (AEMET), organized the Expert Group Meeting on Agricultural Drought Indices in Murcia, Spain, June 2-4, 2010. The meeting reviewed drought indices currently used around the world for agricultural drought and assessed the capability of these indices to accurately characterize the severity of droughts and their impacts on agriculture.
Fifteen papers presented at the expert group meeting are brought together in this volume. These papers present an overview of agricultural drought indices; the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of different agricultural drought indices currently in use in selected countries; the integration of crop, climate, and soil issues in agricultural drought indices; and a summary and recommendations on agricultural drought indices.