Droughts : The impact of semantics and perceptions

• Published in: Water policy 2008-01, Vol.10 (2), p.131-143
• Main Authors: SMAKHTIN, Vladimir U, LISA, E, SCHIPPER, F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural management; Agricultural production; Competition; Conceptual knowledge; Definitions; Degradation; Desertification; Disaster management; Disaster risk; Drought; Duration; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Economic development; Emergency preparedness; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environmental changes; Environmental degradation; Exact sciences and technology; Food; Food supply; Foods; Habitat loss; Hazards; Health care policy; Healthy food; Human development; Inconsistency; Insecurity; Interest groups; Land; Land degradation; Multilateralism; Natural disasters; Natural hazards: prediction, damages, etc; Natural resources; Perceptions; Policies; Policy making; Poverty; Poverty alleviation; Productivity; Risk management; Scholarship; Security; Semantics; Spatial discrimination
• ISSN: 1366-7017; 1996-9759
• DOI: 10.2166/wp.2008.036

Global environmental change coupled with increased demand for food and competition for diminishing water places the issue of disaster risk management high on the global political agenda. Drought is one of the most complex natural hazards, affecting natural resources and human development recurrently. Drought affects agricultural production globally, triggering significant food and health insecurity and habitat loss through land degradation and desertification. While the consequences of droughts can usually be predicted, preventive action is frequently absent or insufficient to prevent serious impacts in many regions of the world. We believe that lack of a common understanding of what drought is stands in the way of cohesive anti-drought action. This paper examines drought definitions emerging from influential scholarship, practitioners' discourse and multilateral policy processes that emphasise diverging aspects of the phenomena of dry periods, including the source, duration, spatial extent, impact and affected stakeholders. This paper begins by examining the concepts of hazard and disaster. It then explores the various perceptions associated with drought and the problems posed by inconsistency in definitions. It concludes that a common conceptual understanding of drought is essential for effective action to address the growing need for reliable food supply, poverty alleviation and increased agricultural productivity globally.