Abstract
Droughts are risks characterized by their complexity, uncertainty, and a series of other features, which differentiate them from other natural disasters and affect the strategies designed to manage them. These characteristics highlight the close relationship between drought management and water resources management. The following hypothesis is raised in this study—unsatisfactory integration of a drought-risk and water resources management strategies, increases the vulnerability to drought. To corroborate this hypothesis, the Spanish case was analyzed, where droughts are a recurrent phenomenon, due to the Mediterranean climate. Starting from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) framework, which has been proposed to characterize vulnerability as a function of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, this study analyzed the vulnerability in the Spanish River Basin Districts, through—(i) the integration of the predictable effects of climate change and the increased risk of exposure in hydrologic planning; (ii) the pressure on water resources that determines the sensitivity of the systems; and (iii) the development and implementation of drought management plans as a fundamental tool, in order to adapt before these events occur. The results showed that despite important advances in the process of conceiving and managing droughts, in Spain, there are still important gaps for an adequate integration of droughts risk into the water resource strategies. Therefore, despite the improvements, drought-risk vulnerability of the systems remained high.
Highlights
When we talk about drought it is important to differentiate between drought as a natural phenomenon and drought as a risk
To corroborate this hypothesis—poor integration of water resource management and drought-risk management strategies increases the vulnerability to drought-risk—three aspects were analyzed that were directly related to the three components of vulnerability, proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [30]
We reviewed all Spanish River basin district plans and analyzed the extent to which climate change forecasts have been introduced on water resources in the future
Summary
When we talk about drought it is important to differentiate between drought as a natural phenomenon and drought as a risk. Drought as a risk refers to the effect that the decreased rainfall may have on the available water resources trying to keep up with the demand [2]. A period of drought can lead to water deficit situations that make it difficult to meet the water demands. This situation could be prevented and adequately managed to avoid restriction in use. Refers to a permanent situation of water deficit, where demand is greater than the available resources and structural measures that are needed to revert this situation [4]
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