The UN Environment Programme launched a proposed global Drought Resilience Capacity Index in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Tuesday, offering governments a common way to assess whether they can anticipate, prepare for and adapt to drought. UNEP presented the technical report at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification COP17, saying the tool is intended to turn scattered climate data into practical decisions and investment priorities.
The proposed index uses nine indicators grouped under three dimensions: Anticipate, Prepare and Adapt. UNEP described it as a national self-assessment tool that builds on existing information and could produce a clear, comparable score showing where a country's capacity is strong and where gaps remain. It measures preparedness and institutional ability rather than the severity of a drought itself.
UNEP said international monitoring already tracks between 30 and 50 drought-related indicators directly and about 100 more indirectly across six multilateral environmental agreements. The agency argued that the information is fragmented and does not provide one clear measure of drought resilience. The new framework is designed to connect risk information and early warnings with planning, safeguards, long-term adaptation, finance and evaluation.
The agency proposed piloting the approach with interested countries before wider use and invited governments to help refine how it can support decisions by finance and planning ministries as well as environmental agencies. UNEP said the index could fit into existing reporting under multilateral environmental agreements and complement the Drought Resilience Index of the UNCCD and International Drought Resilience Alliance observatory, rather than replace it.
The launch comes as drought is producing cascading damage across public water supplies, agriculture, energy, ecosystems and livelihoods. UNEP said land degradation, desertification and drought already affect three billion people and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage each year. UNDRR said stronger early-warning coverage, risk-informed investment and integrated management are essential because disruption in one sector can quickly spread to food systems, supply chains and public services.
The report was launched during COP17, which runs from August 17 to 28 and brings together representatives of the UNCCD's 197 parties. The European Commission funded the research, developed with its Joint Research Centre, UNCCD, the International Drought Resilience Alliance and UNDRR. The next step is to recruit pilot countries, test whether the nine indicators work across different national settings and revise the method before any broader adoption.
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