Drought Management in China

The specialist will have bachelor’s or higher degree, or equivalent qualification, in water resource management or a related field and at least 15 years of work experience in drought management. Experience in conducting projects as a team leader will be highly regarded. The specialist will have substantive and administrative responsibility for the effective and timely implementation of the TA and for the quality and consistency of all TA outputs. The specialist will also lead in formulating and developing TA outputs by coordinating all TA activities, ensuring and coordinating stakeholder participation, coordinating and consolidating the inputs of government agencies and other specialists, and appropriately managing other specialists. The specialist will ensure that all consultants work closely together so that all individual output components are well integrated and complement one another. Specifically, the specialist will do the following: (i) Review past and ongoing national and provincial activities for managing drought risk, and assess the outcome for inclusion in the pilots. (ii) Establish baselines for performance targets and indicators specified in the design and monitoring framework of the TA. (iii) Together with the national capacity development specialist, survey staff of the FCDRHs in national and other government administrations; the MWR and its surrogate institutions at other tiers of government administration, such as provincial DWRs; and other agencies to assess their understanding of drought risk management and how to use this approach. (iv) Develop a mechanism to collect data for drought management, including agency cooperation. (v) Provide the national software specialist with requirements for (a) a comprehensive database for drought management in the three pilot provinces, including necessary meteorological data, remote-sensing data, satellite data, geographical information system data, and land and water resources data; (b) software to map the likelihood and severity of drought and conduct scenario analyses in the three pilot provinces based on historical data, changing weather patterns, and changing local conditions such as population, water storage, grazing intensity, and landscape; and (c) software to forecast droughts by monitoring climatic conditions, including climate change impacts such as declining rainfall patterns, soil moisture, and stored water in the three pilot provinces. (vi) Establish methodologies for analyzing drought hazard and mapping drought risk by mapping the likelihood and severity of drought in the three pilot provinces. (vii) Conduct scenario analyses in the three pilot provinces identifying priority areas for drought management with the greatest benefit, and establish a methodology for analysis. (viii) Develop an early warning mechanism to guide decisions at the start of, during, and after a drought on water availability and control defining the roles of the FCDRHs in national and other government administrations; the MWR and its surrogate institutions at other tiers of government administration, such as provincial DWRs; and other agencies. (ix) Define roles of FCDRHs in national and other government administrations; the MWR and its surrogate institutions at other tiers of government administration, such as provincial DWRs; and other agencies in drought management, particularly drought risk management. (x) Identify how to spur cooperation between agencies for drought management, particularly drought risk management. (xi) Together with the national capacity development specialist, prepare a program for agencies on institutional and capacity development for managing drought risk. (xii) Together with the national capacity development specialist, implement part of the institutional and capacity development program. (xiii) Organize and conduct an international study tour for staff of the MWR and the DWRs of the three pilot provinces. (xiv) Strengthen the capacity for managing drought risk of officials of national and pilot province FCDRHs and other national and provincial agencies, as necessary, by implementing part of the institutional and capacity development program, including seminars, workshops, and/or training; through the international study tour; and through on-the-job training in the course of preparing a plan for managing drought risk in each pilot province. (xv) Develop, together with the staff of the FCDRHs and of other agencies in each pilot province, a plan for managing drought risk in the province based on pilot activities, which is tailored to address the specific issues in the province. (xvi) Prepare guidelines for implementing drought risk management across the PRC. (xvii) Prepare inception, interim, draft final, and final reports.