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Challenges for drought mitigation in Africa: The potential use of geospatial data and drought information systems

Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M. ; Begueria, Santiago ; Gimeno, Luis ; Eklundh, Lars LU orcid ; Giuliani, Gregory ; Weston, Derek ; El Kenawy, Ahmed ; Lopez-Moreno, Juan I. ; Nieto, Raquel and Ayenew, Tenalem , et al. (2012) In Applied Geography 34. p.471-486
Abstract
Understanding, monitoring and mitigating drought is a very difficult task as a consequence of the intrinsic nature of the phenomenon. In addition, assessing the impact of drought on ecosystems and societies is also a complex task, because the same drought severity may have different consequences in different regions and systems due to the underlying vulnerabilities. New technologies based on geospatial information are available to determine the risk and vulnerability of a system to a drought and to develop monitoring and early warning systems based on real-time information to support decision making. To improve drought preparedness and mitigation, geospatial datasets based on climate information, Earth Observation Systems and statistical... (More)
Understanding, monitoring and mitigating drought is a very difficult task as a consequence of the intrinsic nature of the phenomenon. In addition, assessing the impact of drought on ecosystems and societies is also a complex task, because the same drought severity may have different consequences in different regions and systems due to the underlying vulnerabilities. New technologies based on geospatial information are available to determine the risk and vulnerability of a system to a drought and to develop monitoring and early warning systems based on real-time information to support decision making. To improve drought preparedness and mitigation, geospatial datasets based on climate information, Earth Observation Systems and statistical and dynamical modelling methodologies can make a noticeably difference in mitigating drought impacts in Africa. In this article we illustrate how the development of drought information systems based on geospatial technology, that combines static and real-time information, could improve the possibilities of drought mitigation in Africa. We stress that it is necessary to go beyond past attempts to manage drought risk based on a reactive crisis-response approach, by promoting drought mitigation and preparedness at the national and regional levels. For this purpose the development of drought information tools is fundamental for the implementation of drought management plans and to support real-time decision-making. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Drought, Risk mitigation, Drought indices, Drought vulnerability, Drought risk, Capacity building, Standardized Precipitation, Evapotranspiration Index, Drought forecasting, Earth observation, NDVI
in
Applied Geography
volume
34
pages
471 - 486
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000306199400046
  • scopus:84857550466
ISSN
1873-7730
DOI
10.1016/j.apgeog.2012.02.001
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a5043f9d-d4f6-43d4-8256-5eb57f66a94a (old id 2991744)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:11:40
date last changed
2022-04-12 21:11:49
@article{a5043f9d-d4f6-43d4-8256-5eb57f66a94a,
  abstract     = {{Understanding, monitoring and mitigating drought is a very difficult task as a consequence of the intrinsic nature of the phenomenon. In addition, assessing the impact of drought on ecosystems and societies is also a complex task, because the same drought severity may have different consequences in different regions and systems due to the underlying vulnerabilities. New technologies based on geospatial information are available to determine the risk and vulnerability of a system to a drought and to develop monitoring and early warning systems based on real-time information to support decision making. To improve drought preparedness and mitigation, geospatial datasets based on climate information, Earth Observation Systems and statistical and dynamical modelling methodologies can make a noticeably difference in mitigating drought impacts in Africa. In this article we illustrate how the development of drought information systems based on geospatial technology, that combines static and real-time information, could improve the possibilities of drought mitigation in Africa. We stress that it is necessary to go beyond past attempts to manage drought risk based on a reactive crisis-response approach, by promoting drought mitigation and preparedness at the national and regional levels. For this purpose the development of drought information tools is fundamental for the implementation of drought management plans and to support real-time decision-making. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M. and Begueria, Santiago and Gimeno, Luis and Eklundh, Lars and Giuliani, Gregory and Weston, Derek and El Kenawy, Ahmed and Lopez-Moreno, Juan I. and Nieto, Raquel and Ayenew, Tenalem and Konte, Diawoye and Ardö, Jonas and Pegram, Geoffrey G. S.}},
  issn         = {{1873-7730}},
  keywords     = {{Drought; Risk mitigation; Drought indices; Drought vulnerability; Drought risk; Capacity building; Standardized Precipitation; Evapotranspiration Index; Drought forecasting; Earth observation; NDVI}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{471--486}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Applied Geography}},
  title        = {{Challenges for drought mitigation in Africa: The potential use of geospatial data and drought information systems}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2012.02.001}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.apgeog.2012.02.001}},
  volume       = {{34}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}