Droughts in the Anthropocene

Introduction

Droughts are slow-onset natural hazards that can last from a few months to decades and affect anything from small watersheds to hundreds of thousands of square kilometres. In addition to their direct impacts on water resources, agriculture and ecosystems, droughts are potential catalysts for fires, heatwaves and invasive incursions, thereby creating multi-hazard environments and furthering the impact on and vulnerability of ecosystems and societies. Though droughts are natural events, there is an increasing understanding of how humans have amplified their severity and worsened their effects on both the environment and human populations. Humans have altered both meteorological droughts through human-induced climate change and hydrological droughts through management of water movement and processes within a landscape, such as by diverting rivers or changing land use. In the Anthropocene (the ongoing period in which humans are the dominant influence on climate and the environment), droughts are closely entwined with human actions, cultures and responses. Droughts affect economies (causing economic damage in the range of tens of billions of US$ each year) as well as ecosystems and societies, particularly in arid and subtropical regions and in developing countries. Between 1995 and 2015, drought-related natural disasters affected 1.1 billion people and caused about 22,000 fatalities [1]. Women and girls are typically the hardest affected by drought due to gender inequalities, unequal power distribution and limited control over resources, making them even more vulnerable to drought impacts. Addressing water scarcity in transboundary basins is a complex challenge: climate change and human influences put pressure on freshwater supplies, while lakes and rivers that cross international

borders require coordinated interventions that take into consideration the basin as a whole. Droughts in the Anthropocene will therefore require us to take new approaches and share knowledge to find sustainable solutions. To mitigate the effects of droughts, we must increase human and institutional capacity, provide access to relevant early warning information that supports decision-making and completes the ‘last mile’ in communication and response, identify vulnerable communities and integrate these components into proactive drought management policies [2]. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been involved in water management and science for over 70 years, supporting research, capacity-building and management of water resources. Between 1948 and 1964, the Arid Zone Initiatives helped draw attention to the importance of hydrology and water management within arid landscapes. The following International Hydrological Decade of 1965–1974 enabled significant progress at the regional level in terms of research, training, capacity-building and hydrological investigations, which laid the foundation for the establishment of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) in 1975. This programme gave UNESCO a more active role across the global, regional and local levels of governance to enhance water sustainability. Since its establishment, IHP has expanded through initiatives, associated programmes and the development of regional and global centres and focal points with UNESCO chairs. IHP’s activities, as well as its initiatives such as the Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands (G-WADI) and the International Drought Initiative (IDI), continue to support countries in identifying and addressing drought management gaps and needs by strengthening global, regional and local capacities to manage water resources

and by providing access to data and policy recommendations to ensure more integrated drought management. Furthermore, IHP’s From Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PCCP) initiative aims to promote the collaborative and sustainable management of transboundary waters as a means of enabling peace and water security. This publication has been produced as part of the digital interactive exhibition Droughts in the Anthropocene, prepared for the fortieth session of the UNESCO General Conference, and for the UNFCCC COP 25. The exhibition uses a number of case studies from around the world to showcase the social, environmental and cultural impacts of droughts and water scarcity. It highlights solutions offered by collaboration between scientists and local communities, and the important work of IHP and partners in bridging science with society and policymakers to better address the impact of droughts. The exhibition also features youth action on climate change and the work of young water scientists and professionals. In preparation for the exhibition, young scientists have helped compile case studies and been involved in developing an interactive web-based platform that provides real-time forecast information on weather and drought conditions. This publication and the exhibition are the result of the work of UNESCO IHP in partnership with GRID-Arendal, the University of Southampton and the U.S. National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).

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