As India is set to receive the weakest monsoon since 2009, the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, identified drought as a developmental challenge on Tuesday. Yadav was speaking at the ‘Ministerial Dialogue on Accelerating Drought Resilience’ at the 17th Conference of Parties (CoP17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Yadav said drought is “no longer an occasional event but a defining development challenge.” “It is affecting water security, food systems, biodiversity and economic stability,” said the minister during his ministerial intervention. Along with extreme heat and floods, worsening droughts have been a feature of climate change across the world. Experts point out that climate change can combine with weather phenomena like El Nino to create drought or near-drought situations.
Currently, India is facing, according to weather officials, one of its weakest monsoons in almost two decades. Rainfall is predicted to be around 15% below the long-term average by the end of the season. This is the lowest since 2009 and is expected to severely impact agriculture, food prices, and the economy in general.
Minister Yadav called for a fundamental shift in the global approach to drought, “from reactive relief to proactive, technology-enabled resilience.”
Dry-spell-ready claims
Yadav showcased what he claimed was India’s coordinated, multi-institutional approach, integrating early warning, mitigation, relief and community resilience.
He enumerated the mechanisms in place: rainfall monitoring and satellite-based drought assessments trigger preparedness at the inter-ministerial and state levels, ensuring that a dry spell does not escalate into a crisis, he said. “Restore the forest before the flow,” the minister said, emphasising the critical link between land and water.
Yadav underscored India’s focus on catchment and riverscape forestry to reduce erosion, improve water retention and recharge groundwater. “River rejuvenation and revival of traditional water bodies further strengthen water security and rural drought resilience,” the ministry release pointed out.
COP 17 targets restoring land
The Ulaanbataar COP 17 summit, with the theme “Restoring Land. Restoring Hope”, is focused on translating promises into actual funds, drought resilience and combating desertification. The minister’s statements come at a time, however, when several protests have erupted against the centre and state governments regarding government or private projects considered excessively damaging to the environment, especially related to river or forest land or water usage.
The Ken-Betwa river linking project, the permission to build a five-star hotel in Kaziranga forest in Assam and the permission to global IT giants to build AI centres, especially in water-scarce parts of the country, have drawn huge protests.
Community-led water restoration is mentioned
Yadav said in India, community-led restoration of springs and recharge zones were operational in the hills, “while in the plains, a pan-India watershed programme addresses degraded rainfed lands through a ridge-to-valley approach, supported by community institutions and convergence with rural employment programmes”.
At the household level, drinking water programmes are meant to ensure reliable supplies during periods of stress, with assured service levels, local quality testing and prioritisation of vulnerable areas, said the minister.
The minister mentioned “crop insurance that protects farmers against drought and other non-preventable losses across the crop cycle, combining subsidised premiums with technology-driven assessment for faster and transparent claim settlement.” He stressed that community ownership, capacity building, and livelihood diversification are key to the transition from “reactive relief to proactive, technology-enabled resilience.”
Drought must be managed as a preventable risk
“Drought must be managed as a predictable, preventable risk and not a recurring disaster demanding emergency response,” said Yadav. He described prevention measures, such as “watershed development, water harvesting, afforestation, groundwater recharge and climate-resilient crops, complemented by disaster-related funds, employment guarantees, fodder support and emergency water supplies when required”, says the ministry statement.
He asked for “stronger global action”, advocating greater investment in ecosystem restoration, stronger early warning systems and coordinated action. “Preparedness over response, prevention over crisis management, and resilience over recovery should be the goal,” he said.
Building drought resilience is not optional for the world’s most vulnerable but a matter of survival, Yadav said, and affirmed India’s readiness “to share its knowledge and capacities, including on early warning, for a drought-resilient future for all”.