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Kurt Schwabe · José Albiac
Jeffery D. Connor · Rashid M. Hassan
Liliana Meza González
Editors
Drought in Arid
and Semi-Arid
Regions
A Multi-Disciplinary and Cross-Country
Perspective
Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions
Kurt Schwabe José Albiac
Jeffery D. Connor Rashid M. Hassan
Liliana Meza González
•
•
Editors
Drought in Arid and
Semi-Arid Regions
A Multi-Disciplinary and Cross-Country
Perspective
123
Editors
Kurt Schwabe
Department of Environmental Sciences
University of California
Riverside, CA
USA
José Albiac
Department of Agricultural Economics
Agrifood Research and Technology Centre
(CITA-DGA)
Zaragoza
Spain
Jeffery D. Connor
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
Glen Osmond, SA
Australia
Rashid M. Hassan
Department of Agricultural Economics
Extension and Rural Development
Faculty of Agricultural and
Natural Sciences
Centre for Environmental Economics and
Policy Analysis in Africa (CEEPA)
University of Pretoria
Pretoria
South Africa
Liliana Meza González
Department of Economics
Ibero-American University
Mexico City, Distrito Federal
Mexico
ISBN 978-94-007-6635-8
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6636-5
ISBN 978-94-007-6636-5
(eBook)
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013940749
Ó
Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013; Chapter 24:
Ó
Australian Government
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Foreword
Drought is often, for a variety of reasons, largely disregarded among the wide
range of natural disasters that routinely affect societies in substantive ways.
Because of its creeping or slow onset nature, its impacts accumulate over a long
period of time; consequently, it is difficult to recognize both the onset and end of
the event. In addition to being difficult to recognize, it also appears difficult to
define as there is no universal definition of drought. Drought is best defined by
region and impact sector. Literally, hundreds of definitions exist, often resulting in
confusion as to whether or not a drought exists and its severity. This feature of
drought sometimes leads to inaction on the part of government authorities, man-
agers, and others. To complicate matters further, each drought episode also differs
from all previous events in its intensity, duration, and spatial extent, and because
of its long duration, droughts usually have multiple and migrating epicenters.
Impacts associated with drought are non-structural and, therefore, do not catch
the imagination of the media and policy makers until those impacts reach dev-
astating proportions, as we have seen in recent years in many countries throughout
the world, including recent droughts in the Greater Horn of Africa, China,
Southern Africa, and the United States. This is one reason why drought is referred
to by many as an invisible natural hazard. Yet, drought affects more people
globally than any other natural hazard and results in far-reaching and massive
economic, social, and environmental impacts. Societal vulnerability to drought is
constantly changing in response to increasing population, regional shifts of pop-
ulation, changes in land use, urbanization, applications of new technology, and
many other factors. The projected increase in the frequency and severity of
extreme climatic events, such as drought, will also exacerbate impacts. Because
drought is a slow onset phenomenon with cumulative impacts, any increase in the
duration of drought episodes will also affect the ability of society to recover since
the time between events will be shortened.
The impacts of drought differ markedly between countries and even within
countries because of the differing physical characteristics of drought and the
societal context in which these events occur. People most closely associate the
impacts of drought with the agricultural sector because of its direct effects on
water availability and food production. Certainly, the agricultural sector remains
one of the most vulnerable to an extended period of precipitation deficiency.
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