Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring Network

In the first year of the CARIWIN project, during one of the short courses given on IWRM involving water managers, and senior administrators from each of the three partner governments, dynamic roundtable discussions revealed a collective need for information products that facilitate the incorporation of climate risk management into decision-making. As a solution, the Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CDPMN) was proposed.

The Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CDPMN) seeks to develop a number of precipitation indices to monitor drought and wet episodes in the Caribbean. Combined with the Precipitation Outlook currently produced by CIMH, drought and precipitation projections can be made for up to at least three months. The CARIWIN countries will be the focus of the network in the immediate future.

The CDPMN will afford an opportunity for a participatory process, between CIMH, national and local governments and pilot communities, to propose adaptation strategies and new Community Water Strategies which consider the extremes of drought and flood for water resource management in Jamaica, Grenada and Guyana. A key element to ensuring the success of the CDPMN will be based on sound monitoring stations, proven institutional capacity, effective data management and smooth information flow (centralized management).

The development of this regional network will be hosted at CIMH and will centralize data and indices for the monitoring of drought and wet episodes in the Caribbean. It will also build toward the expected project outcome for CARIWIN of CIMH emerging as a strengthened regional training institution and information centre of excellence in equitable and sustainable IWRM.

To find out more, you can read about the CDPMN and its objectives: paper on the CDPMN network presented at the CEF [.pdf]

View the CDPMN presentation given at the Caribbean Environmental Forum (CEF) in Grenada, June 2008:
Presentation of the CDPMN at the CEF [.pdf]

Project Contact: Adrian Trotman, CIMH
Email: atrotman [at] cimh.edu.bb