Lessons from the 2018–2019 European droughts: a collective need for unifying drought risk management

Abstract

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.

Flash drought drives rapid vegetation stress in arid regions in Europe

“…A long-term analysis (1950-2019) conducted by [27] found a substantial increase in the frequency of flash droughts over the last decades, particularly in Central and Mediterranean Europe. Recently, more grid pixels of Europe have been affected by flash droughts (see the bar plot of figure 1(a)), particularly in 2018 and 2019, when Europe was affected by exceptionally dry and hot summers [39,40]. Maps of flash drought frequency for each year can be found in figure S3.…”

Cross-sectoral impacts of the 2018–2019 Central European drought and climate resilience in the German part of the Elbe River basin

“…Monitoring is also key in the socio-economic system. Blauhut et al ( 2022 ) asked stakeholders across Europe about their perception of the 2018–2019 drought and the drought risk management in their countries. Germany was among the drought-aware but least prepared countries with no management plan in place.…”

On the visual detection of non-natural records in streamflow time series: challenges and impacts

“…Water is essential for the well-being of our societies, as it supports recreational activities, biodiversity, agriculture, industrial development, and fresh water supply. Yet water, and also lack of water, can become a threat during extreme events such as floods (Merz et al, 2021) and droughts (Blauhut et al, 2022). This highlights the importance of management strategies based on scientific understanding of hydrological processes in order to mitigate their impacts.…”