Drought is a natural hazard characterized by lower than expected or lower than normal rainfall having slow but widespread impact. This book focus on drought management and mitigation in agriculture and allied sectors. The chapters cover Basic concepts, assessment, monitoring, forecasting, early warning, vulnerability and adaptation to drought and mitigation and management strategies. Management of different land use systems under drought and finally socio economic impact and livelihood issues of drought are also focussed. It would be useful to a wide range of stakeholders, i.e. planners, researchers, students and interested public. This will also serve as text book as well as supplementary reading for courses in agronomy, ecology, geography and agro meteorology besides administration and disaster management units.
Drought is one of the major natural hazards, resulting in significant economic, social, and environmental costs. In Europe, water shortage is an important problem in many regions. However, despite the increasing awareness of this hazard, there is no European drought policy and institutional frameworks to cope with drought situations are only weakly developed. This book is dedicated to furthering our understanding of the drought problem in Europe and to discussing policy and management options to mitigate its impacts. It covers aspects from the detection of water stress to the planning of mitigation strategies. The contributions are written by recognised experts in their field and represent a unique collection of papers on the topic. Audience: The book will be of benefit to scientists, managers, and politicians involved in problems related to water management, risk assessment, and spatial planning. Students in Earth Sciences, especially in geography, climatology, hydrology, and agriculture, will find useful material in this collection of papers.
Demand for food has increased exponentially while the availability of arable land for agriculture has decreased, due to increased urbanization and industrial growth. Among various stresses, drought is a major constraint to rain-fed crop production. It is estimated that nearly 3.7 billion hectares of global land area is affected by drought, which is equal in area to the global drought-free land. There are various perspectives from which we can view drought, but those that impinge upon human and animal life directly by adversely affecting availability of water, agricultural (food/fodder-feed/fibre and medicinal crops) production, ecology and industry are the ones of major concern.
Over the last three decades drought episodes have resulted in severe social problems in Mediterranean countries, receiving broad attention from the international scientific and policy communities. The experiences in the development and implementation of drought management plans highlight the success and challenges of coping with drought for societies with different vulnerabilities and emphasize risk-based drought management as a critical approach to mitigate the impacts associated to drought-induced water shortages. Based on these experiences and the current methods for evaluating risk, the book synthesises guidelines for drought management that link science and policy and that can be applied to other regions. The book comprises a collection of papers divided into four sections that appeal to a broad audience. First, the social and hydrological context of Mediterranean countries is presented, discussing the interactions that have resulted in the complex institutional framework, and highlighting the importance of stakeholder involvement and awareness building for successful drought management. This section emphasises the role of organizations, institutions, and civil stakeholders involved in drought preparedness and mitigation and/or on water management for designing effective risk based strategies that mitigate the effects of drought in agriculture and water supply systems. Second, the book presents an academic approach to risk evaluation, including characterization of drought episodes, development of indicators of risk in hydrological and agricultural systems, and analysis of the role of economic instruments and groundwater for risk mitigation. This section finalises with the description of an integrated method for evaluating social vulnerability based on indicators that include the capacity to anticipate, cope, and respond to drought. The third section includes a collection of case studies that include the description of effective measures taken in the past. These case studies provide the context for developing demand driven guidelines that may be applied to other regions. The authors of these chapters can be viewed as stakeholders in drought management, since they represent a broad range of sectors and institutions from Mediterranean European and North African countries. The topics addressed have implications for the international policy community interested in disaster mitigation, agricultural policy, and development. Finally a synthesis of the management actions is presented in four chapters. Monitoring and preparedness planning is the essential first step for moving from disaster to risk management in response to drought. The management actions related to agriculture and water supply systems are presented in two different chapters but with a common conceptual framework based on the use of drought indicators for evaluating the levels of drought risk (pre-alert, alert, and emergency), that allow establishing linkages between science and policy. The final chapter discuses the lessons learned and application to other regions.
At last, integrated management of drought on farms is dealt with in one comprehensive book. Although drought is a highly variable, near-universal natural phenomenon which has repercussions on a country's water and food supplies and many other sectors of the economy, there are many ways of avoiding, resisting and mitigating the effects of drought. Pro-active preparedness entails using the principles of risk management to upgrade the drought resistance of a farm systematically, and to have auxiliary contingency plans at the ready for use during unusually long droughts. The book provides tools for these strategies as it covers the management of water, soils, crops, rangeland, fodder and livestock, and many other drought-related topics. Audience: This book will be an important source of information for university and college staff and students in agricultural sciences, water and land use, environmental management, geography and risk management, and also farmers, agricultural advisors and policy makers.
Agricultural production is highly sensitive to weather and climate-related disasters such as drought, storm and flood. While it is not possible to prevent the occurrence of natural disasters, the resultant disastrous effects can be reduced mitigated through proper planning and effective preparation. This book, based on a gathering of experts in Beijing, discusses ways to reduce the vulnerability of agriculture to disaster and extreme events, both by accurate and timely warning, and by impact-reducing countermeasures.
This book represents the background of the Barind Tract of Bangladesh with the proximity of drought information, conceptual and logic of the books, history, definition and perception on drought and climate scenario and how people understand underlying causes, impacts and consequences of drought in agriculture, environment, human health and society. It also states the trend and severity of drought of Barind Tract. This book gives the local response to cope, mitigation and adaptation to agricultural drought. The book also addresses the gender response in the hardship of drought in the rural areas. It also elicits the local and indigenous methods of drought prediction and sustainable cultivation and management of drought in agriculture.
Drought is an insidious hazard of nature. It originates from a deficiency of precipitation that results in a water shortage for some activity or some group. Africa has suffered the most dramatic impacts from drought during the past several decades the recent droughts in the southern and eastern portions of the continent are testimony to that fact. However, the vulnerability of all nations to extended periods of water shortage has been underscored again and again during this same time period. In the past decade alone, droughts have occurred with considerable frequency and severity in most of the developed and developing world. Significant parts of North and South America, Australia, Europe, and Asia have been plagued recently by extended periods of severe drought, often resulting in far-reaching economic, social, and environmental consequences. In the western United States, for example, vast areas are facing the prospects of a sixth or seventh consecutive year of drought in 1993. Concern by members ofthe scientific and policy communities about the inability of governments to respond in an effective and timely manner to drought and its associated impacts exists worldwide. Numerous "calls for action" for improved drought planning and management have been issued by national governments, professional organizations, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and others. The United Nations' International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (lDNDR) is yet another example of an international call for action to reduce the impacts that result from drought and other natural hazards.
Remote Sensing of Drought: Innovative Monitoring Approaches presents emerging remote sensing-based tools and techniques that can be applied to operational drought monitoring and early warning around the world. The first book to focus on remote sensing and drought monitoring, it brings together a wealth of information that has been scattered throughout the literature and across many disciplines. Featuring contributions by leading scientists, it assembles a cross-section of globally applicable techniques that are currently operational or have potential to be operational in the near future. The book explores a range of applications for monitoring four critical components of the hydrological cycle related to drought: vegetation health, evapotranspiration, soil moisture and groundwater, and precipitation. These applications use remotely sensed optical, thermal, microwave, radar, and gravity data from instruments such as AMSR-E, GOES, GRACE, MERIS, MODIS, and Landsat and implement several advanced modeling and data assimilation techniques. Examples show how to integrate this information into routine drought products. The book also examines the role of satellite remote sensing within traditional drought monitoring, as well as current challenges and future prospects. Improving drought monitoring is becoming increasingly important in addressing a wide range of societal issues, from food security and water scarcity to human health, ecosystem services, and energy production. This unique book surveys innovative remote sensing approaches to provide you with new perspectives on large-area drought monitoring and early warning.
