ABSTRACT
Droughts develop slowly. There is thus no funda mental reason why the appearance of drought has to come as a surprise. However, as with all accumulative phenomena, without constant monitoring, an attendant set of escalating indicators, and an effective means of distributing the information, significant thresholds can be crossed without notice. Monitoring is needed for several interlinking purposes:
• To determine the current status of specific resources. • To detect changes and long-term trends. • To obtain knowledge of fundamental linkages and
processes at work. • To enable development and implementation of
early warning indicators. • To assess the efficacy of regulatory and mitigative
actions.
