International Drought Symposium: Integrating Science and Policy

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Prolonged and recurring droughts in many regions of the world strike with increased frequency, indicating what could be expected when climate change hits at full force. There is already an understanding among researchers that various environmental problems have to be approached locally at the watershed/river-basin level, allowing incorporation of physical, biological, and other scientific considerations at the lowest decision-making level (Kemper et al., 2007). Furthermore, a comprehensive-multidisciplinary approach at the watershed/river-basin level is fundamental in understanding interactions between physical impacts of drought and the effectiveness of mitigation policies on the economic consequences of droughts (Wilhite, 2005).Facing very similar climatic and other physical conditions, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, and parts of the United States all contain drought stricken regions where water may become a constraint to economic growth and ecological sustainability and its impacts will likely be pervasive across natural, economic, cultural, and political systems. Interestingly, each of these countries addresses its complicated water issues and recurring droughts using different technological, economic, institutional, and policy measures.The proposed international drought symposium will allow experts (researchers, policymakers, and water managers) from various countries facing water scarcity and drought conditions present and exchange scientific approaches and experiences, and discuss synergies and uniqueness of drought impacts and mitigation in specific regions. Recent droughts within each country will be analyzed from different disciplinary angles, leading to identification of both successful and problematic approaches used to cope with various aspects of the droughts. The symposium will be followed by a workshop allowing the team to initiate a research proposal for a comparative study of water management under drought and variable water supply conditions.A cross-country interdisciplinary approach would be a much more expedient to understanding the relative merits of various policy instruments than waiting for each country to explore such options and drawing conclusions from those experiences. It is this nature of the symposium that will make a difference in the intellectual merit of this symposium.The main objective of the symposium is to address drought from both an interdisciplinary and spatial (international) angles. The multidisciplinary, multi-country approach is expected to lead to a much more comprehensive understanding of the impacts and responses to drought, and to set the basis for more specific and detailed future interdisciplinary research project. In particular, the symposium will (i) provide a forum for exchange of drought related policy experiences among scientists, policy makers and water managers, (ii) allow public input and engagement in the process, and (iii) publish a volume of the papers presented in the symposium in an academic outlet. (iv) allow the country team to initiate the process of preparing a full research proposal of a comparative multi-country study to be submitted for funding both nationally and internationally. These 4 components will ensure a broader impact of the proposed activity.