Theresa Jedd gave an invited lecture called “Water extremes as policy catalysts: Trends in drought governance“ at a two-day international seminar that was co-convened by the U.S. Consulate and the Bavarian State Chancellery held at Schloss Hohenkammer in Freising on September 4th-5th, 2024. In her talk, she covered fundamental principles of drought mitigation and used three cases to illustrate how they can be evaluated in practice. The examples were from her research drought planning in the U.S., Middle East and North Africa, and recent exploratory work in the EU/Germany. She showed how past droughts can become catalysts that lead to improved planning outcomes, but emphasized the need to manage drought risks before they become crises.
The theme of this seminar was Safeguarding the Planet's Water Supply. Other experts and diplomats spoke on the state of water supply from the local to the global levels, including Professor Andrea Gerlak from the University of Arizona and Professor Jörg Drewes and Dr. Martin Grambow from the TUM. Representatives from U.S., Bavarian, and the Slovenian governments were there to showcase their recognition of the importance of the issues that were being discussed. The two days were full of scientific and diplomatic exchange.