My Drought is Different from Your Drought: A Case Study of the Policy Implications of Multiple Ways of Knowing Drought

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between scientific operationalizations of drought and the politics of water management during times of drought. Drawing on a case study of the 2007–09 drought in Georgia in the southeastern United States, this paper examines how multiple ways of knowing drought were produced, circulated, and utilized by stakeholders. Moreover, this paper explores the policy implications of these multiple ways of knowing drought. Data were drawn from archival research, direct observation, and semistructured interviews with members of the green industry (self-identified members of the urban agricultural sector); state environmental regulators; and local governmental officials. Data were analyzed to examine the interplay between science and politics. This paper highlights the intersections of drought management policy and 1) scale and operationalization of drought; 2) how stakeholders know drought; and 3) societal context within which knowledge of drought is produced, circulated, and utilized. This research demonstrates how stakeholders can leverage the complexity of drought to pursue their political goals and change the way water is managed during times of drought. Even in instances where there are different knowledges of drought, stakeholders can still change the societal context, as the green industry did in Georgia in 2009. This paper argues that scientists and policymakers who work on drought management need to consider how knowledges of drought are coconstituted through interactions between science, nature, and society.

Rapidly assessing social characteristics of drought preparedness and decision making: A guide for practitioners

“…As described in the introduction, drought is a diverse phenomenon whose impacts vary across scale and geography. Social scientists have demonstrated that perceptions of impacts also vary across individuals, communities, and economic sectors (Taylor and others, 1988;Woudenberg and others, 2008;Goldman and others, 2016;Kohl and Knox, 2016). Relatedly, other research has examined the assumptions that shape individuals' climate perceptions (for example, Clifford and Travis, 2018) and the impacts of those perceptions on topics such as drought management actions (for example, McNeeley, 2014;Kohl and Knox, 2016;Cravens and others, 2021b).…”

“…Understanding community perceptions about drought can help improve many elements of the decision-making process. Firstly, if a community is not in agreement about what type of problem drought is or even what metrics should be used to assess drought (Kohl and Knox, 2016), community input may be helpful in creating a shared definition of the drought problem. A shared understanding of the drought problem can guide what types of solutions are needed and which decision alternatives are valid and worth discussing (Cravens and others, 2021a).…”

“…The way someone perceives drought is influenced by a mix of factors and is unique to the individual. In fact, how people perceive or experience drought can differ greatly, even in the same place (Goldman and others, 2016;Kohl and Knox, 2016). Factors that shape individual perceptions of environmental conditions, including drought, consist of prior experiences (Clifford and Travis, 2018), cultural influences…”

“…The social dimensions of drought are broad and diverse, addressing impacts that drought has on human communities as well decisions about how to prepare for and respond to drought from a range of economic, institutional, political, socio-cultural, and psychological perspectives (Kallis, 2008;McNeeley, 2014;Kohl and Knox, 2016;Van Loon and others, 2016;. From an economic perspective, drought can have substantial impacts on industries such as agriculture, forestry, and energy production (Wilhite and Vanyarkho, 2000).…”

Barriers and Opportunities for Actionable Knowledge Production in Drought Risk Management: Embracing the Frontiers of Co-production

“…Drought can also be defined in operational terms based on agreed criteria that help planners decide when to declare an event and activate response plans (Estrela and Vargas, 2012;Bachmair et al, 2016a;Maia and Vicente-Serrano, 2017). However, there can be no universal definition that relates to how droughts impact social systems (Lloyd-Hughes, 2014;Kohl and Knox, 2016). Drought and its impacts mean different things to different people depending on their specific interests, experiences and context.…”