Environmental Affairs

Lesson 7: Deserts never sleep

Droughts, then, today and tomorrow.

Popular perception often views droughts as typical of desert environments. In fact generally dry conditions are characteristic of desert and semi-arid areas and in terms of coping with intensified water shortages, drought planning is an important approach to embrace.

One should understand that there can be typical problems with traditional drought plans, including that

- they may not recognize newer uses of water

- they are usually designed for the drought of record, without consideration of the rarity of that drought

- they often are not understood or endorsed by those who will suffer the impacts of the drought

- they may not sufficiently address equity issues or economic differences in the use of water

- they are often triggered by indicators not related in a known way to impacts.

Because droughts are a normal part of virtually any climate, it is important to develop plans to reduce their impacts. An environmental manager can thus also be involved in drought planning activities. Today the drought planning process places a strong emphasis on mitigation and preparedness.

Planning for drought, can be seen as a set of environmental management tasks that rely strongly on organiztional management skills and require continuous instituitional capacity development efforts. Ideally, 10 Steps for Drought Planning should be implemented.

1. Appoint a Drought Task Force 2. State the Purpose and Objectives of the Drought Plan 3. Seek Stakeholder Participation and Resolve Conflict 4. Inventory Resources and Identify Groups at Risk 5. Develop Organizational Structure and Prepare Drought Plan 6. Integrate Science and Policy, Close Institutional Gaps 7. Publicize the Proposed Plan, Solicit Reaction 8. Implement the Plan 9. Develop Education Programs 10. Post-Drought Evaluation

Each drought produces a unique set of impacts, depending not only on its severity, duration, and spatial extent but also on ever-changing social conditions. Society’s vulnerability to drought is determined by a wide range of factors, both physical and social, such as demographic trends and geographic characteristics. One of the challenges of planning for drought is understanding its impacts, both direct and indirect. Where this understanding exists and is acted upon, drought effects are more likely to me minimised.

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