Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (Jun 2022)
Lessons from the 2018–2019 European droughts: a collective need for unifying drought risk management
- V. Blauhut,
- M. Stoelzle,
- L. Ahopelto,
- L. Ahopelto,
- M. I. Brunner,
- C. Teutschbein,
- D. E. Wendt,
- D. E. Wendt,
- V. Akstinas,
- S. J. Bakke,
- L. J. Barker,
- L. Bartošová,
- A. Briede,
- C. Cammalleri,
- K. C. Kalin,
- L. De Stefano,
- M. Fendeková,
- D. C. Finger,
- D. C. Finger,
- M. Huysmans,
- M. Ivanov,
- J. Jaagus,
- J. Jakubínský,
- S. Krakovska,
- G. Laaha,
- M. Lakatos,
- K. Manevski,
- M. Neumann Andersen,
- N. Nikolova,
- M. Osuch,
- P. van Oel,
- K. Radeva,
- R. J. Romanowicz,
- E. Toth,
- M. Trnka,
- M. Urošev,
- J. Urquijo Reguera,
- E. Sauquet,
- A. Stevkov,
- L. M. Tallaksen,
- I. Trofimova,
- A. F. Van Loon,
- M. T. H. van Vliet,
- J.-P. Vidal,
- N. Wanders,
- M. Werner,
- P. Willems,
- N. Živković
Affiliations
- V. Blauhut
- Environmental Hydrological Systems, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- M. Stoelzle
- Environmental Hydrological Systems, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- L. Ahopelto
- Water and Development Research Group, School of Engineering, Aalto University, Aalto, Finland
- L. Ahopelto
- Freshwater Centre, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
- M. I. Brunner
- Environmental Hydrological Systems, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- C. Teutschbein
- Program for Air, Water and Landscape Sciences – Hydrology, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- D. E. Wendt
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- D. E. Wendt
- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- V. Akstinas
- Laboratory of Hydrology, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Kaunas, Lithuania
- S. J. Bakke
- Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- L. J. Barker
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK
- L. Bartošová
- Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic
- A. Briede
- Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
- C. Cammalleri
- Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Ispra, Italy
- K. C. Kalin
- Division for the Development of Climate Products and Applications, Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service, Zagreb, Croatia
- L. De Stefano
- Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- M. Fendeková
- Department of Hydrogeology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynska dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava 4, Slovakia
- D. C. Finger
- School of engineering, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland
- D. C. Finger
- Energieinstitut an der Johannes Kepler Universität, Linz, Austria
- M. Huysmans
- Department of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- M. Ivanov
- Institute of Hydrometeorology and Seismology, Podgorica, Montenegro
- J. Jaagus
- Department of Geography, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- J. Jakubínský
- Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic
- S. Krakovska
- Laboratory of Applied Climatology, Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine
- G. Laaha
- Institute of Statistics, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- M. Lakatos
- Hungarian Meteorological Service, Budapest, Hungary
- K. Manevski
- Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Tjele, Denmark
- M. Neumann Andersen
- Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Tjele, Denmark
- N. Nikolova
- Department of Climatology, Hydrology and Geomorphology, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria
- M. Osuch
- Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- P. van Oel
- Water Resources Management Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands
- K. Radeva
- Department of Climatology, Hydrology and Geomorphology, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria
- R. J. Romanowicz
- Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- E. Toth
- Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- M. Trnka
- Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic
- M. Urošev
- Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijić”, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia
- J. Urquijo Reguera
- Department of Agroforestry Engineering, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica y de Biosistemas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- E. Sauquet
- RiverLy, INRAE, Villeurbanne, France
- A. Stevkov
- Department of Meteorology, National Hydrometeorological Service, Skopje, North Macedonia
- L. M. Tallaksen
- Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- I. Trofimova
- Laboratory of Applied Climatology, Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine
- A. F. Van Loon
- Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- M. T. H. van Vliet
- Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
- J.-P. Vidal
- RiverLy, INRAE, Villeurbanne, France
- N. Wanders
- Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
- M. Werner
- Water Resources & Ecosystems Department, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands
- P. Willems
- Hydraulics and Geotechnics Section, Department of Civil Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- N. Živković
- Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2201-2022
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 22
pp. 2201 – 2217
Abstract
Drought events and their impacts vary spatially and temporally due to diverse pedo-climatic and hydrologic conditions, as well as variations in exposure and vulnerability, such as demographics and response actions. While hazard severity and frequency of past drought events have been studied in detail, little is known about the effect of drought management strategies on the actual impacts and how the hazard is perceived by relevant stakeholders. In a continental study, we characterised and assessed the impacts and the perceptions of two recent drought events (2018 and 2019) in Europe and examined the relationship between management strategies and drought perception, hazard, and impact. The study was based on a pan-European survey involving national representatives from 28 countries and relevant stakeholders responding to a standard questionnaire. The survey focused on collecting information on stakeholders' perceptions of drought, impacts on water resources and beyond, water availability, and current drought management strategies on national and regional scales. The survey results were compared with the actual drought hazard information registered by the European Drought Observatory (EDO) for 2018 and 2019. The results highlighted high diversity in drought perception across different countries and in values of the implemented drought management strategies to alleviate impacts by increasing national and sub-national awareness and resilience. The study identifies an urgent need to further reduce drought impacts by constructing and implementing a European macro-level drought governance approach, such as a directive, which would strengthen national drought management and mitigate damage to human and natural assets.
