Mapping drought patterns and impacts: a global perspective

Mapping drought patterns and impacts: a global perspective
Author: Nishadi Eriyagama
Publisher: IWMI
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2009
Genre: Droughts
ISBN: 9290907118

The study examines the global pattern and impacts of droughts through mapping several drought-related characteristics - either at a country level or at regular grid scales. It appears that arid and semi-arid areas also tend to have a higher probability of drought occurrence. It is illustrated that the African continent is lagging behind the rest of the world on many indicators related to drought-preparedness and that agricultural economies, overall, are much more vulnerable to adverse societal impacts of meteorological droughts. The study also examines the ability of various countries to satisfy their water needs during droughts using storage-related indices.

Hydrological Drought

Hydrological Drought
Author: Lena M. Tallaksen
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 626
Release: 2004
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780444517678

The majority of the examples are taken from regions where the rivers run most of the year.

Drought Policies: Case Studies on Mega-droughts for the High Level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP)

Drought Policies: Case Studies on Mega-droughts for the High Level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP)
Author: Jerome Delli Priscolli
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2019-11-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1789061172

This book focuses on mega-droughts of the past 20 years. Twelve cases from both developed and developing countries are elaborated in the book. Its intention is to draw lessons from the cases of extremely severe water shortages so that countries and stakeholders can be better prepared for extreme drought events in the future. Several recurrent themes emerge from the diverse case studies and descriptions of programs. For example, most chapters discuss the necessity to move from reactive (compensatory) to preventive policies. This theme has implications for use of insurance in developing countries, e.g. is insurance encouraging investments to help countries avoid disasters or is it acting mostly in a humanitarian way to compensate for losses to help people? Several authors point to the importance of risk assessment and to developing risk based policies for drought. This raises statistical issues of how such assessments of uncertainty and risks are done and how they relate to actual occurrence of events. Most chapters call for more inter-sectoral policies, policies which integrate water resources management approaches and to the necessity of raising public awareness of droughts in times of no drought. The issue of structural versus nonstructural is clear in most cases. While often cast as ‘either/or’ the message that emerges is more one of how do you integrate these approaches. Finally, a few chapters bring to light how prevention is needed for national security as well as water security. In Focus – a book series that showcases the latest accomplishments in water research. Each book focuses on a specialist area with papers from top experts in the field. It aims to be a vehicle for in-depth understanding and inspire further conversations in the sector.

Review of the Draft Fourth National Climate Assessment

Review of the Draft Fourth National Climate Assessment
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2018-06-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309471699

Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.

Aware

Aware
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 28
Release: 1993
Genre: Disaster relief
ISBN:

Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation

Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation
Author: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 593
Release: 2012-05-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107025060

Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters. This Special Report explores the social as well as physical dimensions of weather- and climate-related disasters, considering opportunities for managing risks at local to international scales. SREX was approved and accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 18 November 2011 in Kampala, Uganda.

Climate Change and Human Health Scenarios

Climate Change and Human Health Scenarios
Author: Rais Akhtar
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2024-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 303138878X

The objective of the present edited book is to encompass studies from both developed and developing countries of Asia, Africa Europe, and Americas, to understand and present a comparative scenario of the climate change and other environmental determinants of health and disease in geographically diversified countries. Environment and health perspective dates back to Hippocrates treatise written 400 B.C.E. In his book On Airs, Waters and Places, Hippocrates described diseases as associated with environmental conditions, “Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceed thus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and what effects each of them produces for they are not at all alike, but differ much from themselves in regard to their changes. Then the winds, the hot and the cold, especially such as are common to all countries, and then such as are peculiar to each locality. We must also consider the qualities of the waters, for as they differ from one another in taste and weight, so also do they differ much in their qualities. In the same manner, when one comes into a city to which he is a stranger, he ought to consider its situation, how it lies as to the winds and the rising of the sun; for its influence is not the same whether it lies to the north or the south, to the rising or to the setting sun”. There has been a greater emphasis in the last four decades on understanding environmental factors which affect human health, after United Nations established Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 aimed at to evaluate research on changing environmental condition, particularly climate change and its impacts on human wellbeing, including human health, as consequences of extreme heat waves conditions, sea level rise, forced migration, air pollution, droughts, and wildfires. From these studies, risk levels of vulnerable populations and regions can be assessed and level of resilience of healthcare infrastructure that may be used in environmental health policy and equity of these countries.

Building agricultural resilience to natural hazard-induced disasters

Building agricultural resilience to natural hazard-induced disasters
Author: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2021-06-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9251345171

Natural hazard induced disasters (NHID), such as floods, droughts, severe storms, and animal pests and diseases have significant, widespread and long lasting impacts on agricultural sectors around the world. With climate change set to amplify many of these impacts, a “business as usual” approach to disaster risk management in agriculture cannot continue if we are to meet the challenges of agricultural productivity and sustainability growth, and sustainable development. Drawing from seven case studies – Chile, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, Turkey and the United States – this joint OECD?FAO report argues for a new approach to building resilience to NHID in agriculture. It explores the policy measures, governance arrangements, on?farm strategies and other initiatives that countries are using to increase agricultural resilience to NHID, highlighting emerging good practices. It offers concrete recommendations on what more needs to be done to shift from coping with the impacts of disasters, to an ex ante approach that focuses on preventing and mitigating the impacts of disasters, helping the sector be better prepared to respond to disasters, and to adapt and transform in order to be better positioned for future disasters.