Abstract

This policy note examines the current state of drought management in South America through a three-pillar framework: monitoring and early warning, vulnerability and impact assessment and mitigation and preparedness. Findings reveal substantial heterogeneity across countries, with only a few adopting proactive and integrated approaches. Most responses remain reactive, characterized by institutional fragmentation, weak early warning systems and limited availability of vulnerability and impact data. A composite index indicates that no country fully meets all its goals. The main challenges include the predominance of reactive and fragmented policy approaches, the weak integration of early warning systems and monitoring tools into decision-making processes, institutional gaps and inadequate intersectoral coordination, limited development and use of vulnerability and impact assessments, and constrained financial and technical capacities to support long-term resilience-building efforts.