Drought is a complex natural hazard, and the uncertainties surrounding its onset and impacts make investment decisions inherently difficult. On the other hand, drought is considered one of the costliest and most destructive natural hazards. With the threat of higher frequency and greater intensity of future drought events due to climate change, the debate in drought management has evolved from whether to implement reactive or proactive drought management approaches – in other words, whether to invest or not in proactive drought actions – to how to invest in proactive drought action. Different and evolving drought events can be mitigated with varying proactive measures, but the best trade-off between efficacy and profitability – be it a financial or an economic profit – must be targeted. The report investigates the broad concept of the economics of drought management, provides a conceptual, two-tier framework for the assessment of proactive and reactive actions, and disseminates case studies for the implementation of the framework in decision-making processes. This report aims to assist decision-makers, policymakers, planners, and national authorities responsible for planning and programming to conduct an exhaustive economic assessment related to drought. With the knowledge gained from the report, a critical step in the drought investment decision-making process can be effectively undertaken.

This report is a component of the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS)–-funded project “Impacts of Climate Extremes on Future Water and Food Security in South Asia and East Africa.” The goal of the project was to characterize extreme drought events, to improve on a methodology to assess the probability of these events in the future under climate change, to illustrate their impacts, and to provide suggestions on coping strategies. The present report sets the stage for the overall project by undertaking a review of the causes of vulnerability to drought in East Africa and the western Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) of South Asia, and discussing the options to increase resilience to drought in the agricultural sector. Agriculture is a high-risk endeavor in both regions, due to a combination of recurrent droughts—which may intensify due to climate change—poor soil fertility, and a host of constraints faced by farmers, especially low access to input and output markets. These factors, combined with farmers’ high aversion to risk, stifle investments in agriculture, resulting in continuous underachieving production, low income, and persisting poverty.

This volume includes over 30 chapters, written by experts from around the world. It examines numerous management strategies for dealing with drought and scarcity. These strategies include management approaches for different regions, such as coastal, urban, rural, and agricultural areas. It offers multiple strategies for monitoring, assessing, and forcasting drought through the use of remote sensing and GIS tools. It also presents drought mitigation management strategies, such as groundwater management, rainwater harvesting, conservations practices, and more.

The 18th Annual Meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS 2021) was held from 1st to 6th August 2021. This proceedings volume includes selected extended abstracts from a challenging array of presentations at this conference. The AOGS Annual Meeting is a leading venue for professional interaction among researchers and practitioners, covering diverse disciplines of geosciences.

Hydrological Drought: Processes and Estimation Methods for Streamflow and Groundwater, Second Edition provides a comprehensive review of processes and estimation methods for streamflow and groundwater drought. It includes a qualitative conceptual understanding of drought features and processes, a detailed presentation of estimation methods and tools, practical examples and impacts relevant for operational practice.The drought phenomenon and its diversity across the world are illustrated using a global set of daily streamflow series, whereas regional and local aspects of drought are studied using a combination of hydrological time series and catchment information. Hydrological Drought: Processes and Estimation Methods for Streamflow and Groundwater, Second Edition concludes with human impacts, including climate change impacts on drought, drought forecasting and early warning and examples of procedures on how to manage water during drought. The majority of the examples are taken from regions where the rivers run most of the year, but not exclusively. The material presented ranges from well-established knowledge and analysing methods to recent developments in drought research. Its nature varies accordingly, from a more traditional textbook and clear overview to that of a research paper, which introduces recent approaches and methodologies for drought analysis. - Includes a number of innovative tools (self-guided tours, worked examples and software) to support both the understanding and teaching of different methods for evaluating drought severity, human impacts, ecological effects of drought and regional methods that enable estimation - Offers applications/demonstrations using a comprehensive database of streamflow and thematic data from a large number of national and international agencies, which illustrate how data are used when evaluating drought severity - Presents the state of the art of hydrological drought, including well established knowledge as well as recent developments in drought research

Floods and droughts have an increasing impact on societies worldwide. It is unlikely that the provision of flood protection infrastructure and reservoirs will eliminate this problem, especially as extreme events are expected to increase in probability and magnitude as a result of climate change. For this reason, the focus of water management has shifted to a risk-based approach in recent years; but this also has its limitations. This book examines system robustness as a new perspective on flood and drought risk management. The concept of robustness is familiar from other areas, such as engineering and biology. When a system is robust, it can remain functioning even when some components fail. Areas prone to flooding or drought can be understood as systems, and this book makes the concept of robustness operational by proposing quantifiable criteria. These criteria were tested in two case studies of flooding and two of drought, which demonstrate the applicability of the framework and provide insight into the system characteristics that influence system robustness. The book will contribute to decision-making in flood and drought risk management by providing additional decision criteria, and will be of interest to all those whose work involves the management of disastrous and uncertain flood and drought events.

This book presents essential advances in analytical frameworks and tools for modeling the spatial and economic impacts of disasters. In the wake of natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti Earthquake, and the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, as well as major terrorist attacks, the book analyzes disaster impacts from various perspectives, including resilience, space-time extensions, and decision-making strategies, in order to better understand how and to what extent these events impact economies and societies around the world. The contributing authors are internationally recognized experts from various disciplines, such as economics, geography, planning, regional science, civil engineering, and risk management. Thanks to the insights they provide, the book will benefit not only researchers in these and related fields, but also graduate students, disaster management professionals, and other decision-makers.