Five drought myths experts say must be shattered

At World Water Week, a hard look at the notions that stand in the way of drought resilience

Stockholm (Sweden), 2 September — Drought is on track to hitting three in four people globally by 2050. Around the world, scientists and practitioners have amassed a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to drought. So what is standing in the way of more drought-resilient countries and communities?

At an event co-convened by the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA) at World Water Week, held in Sweden from 25 to 29 August, experts from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the United Nations University (UNU) discussed how to elevate drought resilience beyond borders and sectors, upending preconceived notions on drought along the way. 

These are the 5 myths around drought experts wish to shatter:

Myth 1: Drought is a poor farmers’ problem caused by the lack of rain 

Drought is a natural phenomenon, but the current global emergency is human-made, the result of poor land management and unbridled consumption, leading to water stress. Droughts are also becoming harsher and faster due to human-induced climate change. 

And although agriculture is being impacted by drought from the Southern Cone to the Mediterranean to the Horn of Africa, the effects are felt across sectors, starting with recent cuts in hydropower production in areas like northeastern Brazil, as pointed out by UNCCD Policy Officer and drought-resilience expert Daniel Tsegai.

In the past weeks, droughts have forced the authorities of three Bolivian regions to close schools two weeks earlier as drought emptied reservoirs, posing a particular challenge for menstruating students; and 700 wild animals, including hippos and elephants, are being culled in Namibia's game parks to feed people in need as southern Africa battles its worst drought in a century, even as ecotourism is an important source of income for the region.

Less water also causes major disruptions in transportation of people and goods —as seen in recent years from the Yangtze river in China to the Panama Canal, the Rhine in Germany and the Mississippi in the USA—, and drought fuels sand and dust storms, leading to air pollution and respiratory infectious diseases. Also, gender inequality means that women and children are disproportionately affected by the effects of drought.

“Bottom line is: the cascading impacts of drought can touch all regions and sectors, including energy production, transportation, manufacturing, tourism, education and physical and mental health,” said Tsegai. “This means we need an inclusive and all-of-government, all-of-society approach to drought.”

Myth 2: Droughts are crises to be responded to 

“We are not planning for drought. We are not appreciating the fact that the water bankruptcy situation we are in is no longer a simple anomaly, but a reality with which we need to adapt to,” said the Director of the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Kaveh Madani. “Our response to drought is still reactive.”

Madani noted that policy-makers and citizens often have the perception of water availability when it rains, without taking into account that overall water consumption is larger than replenishment. 

Additionally, having some water in dam reservoirs delays the effects of hydrological drought —when river and underground water levels are dangerously low— on societies. Since the impacts are not immediately felt, decision-makers and water users tend to dismiss early warnings and fail to take action. 

“Drought is not a crisis, it is a risk and, as such, it can —and has to— be managed with proactive policies and investments, without waiting for drought to strike,” added Tsegai. “This is the one major change in mentality that needs to happen.”

Myth 3: Climate change alone is to blame for the effects of drought

“From a decision-making perspective, climate change is a blessing for some managers because they can always justify their inaction and blame every failure on global warming and the international community,” said UNU's Madani.

In his opinion, leaders must stop treating the water and land sectors as mere victims of climate change and harness their mitigation potential, putting the agrifood sector, including smallholder farmers, at the forefront of the fight against climate change. 

“Let’s stop blaming drought on climate change and start promoting the water and land sectors as opportunity sectors, instead,” urged Madani, emphasizing the need to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to drought management. “One thing is clear: we will not engineer our way out of droughts, which are a component of the water cycle.” 

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Myth 4: Gray infrastructure is the answer to drought

According to panelists, drought resilience depends on good policies and incentives, supported by targeted investments and a mix of low- and high-level technologies adapted to each context. Such policies must consider nature-based solutions, instead of relying solely on gray infrastructures like dams and water cisterns.

A recent TNC report, for example, analyzed which parts of the world face a growing risk of drought and flooding across in the next two decades. What it found is that nature is key to reducing these risks in more than one third of those locations. 

“When implemented at scale and in the right places, nature-based solutions can support healthy hydrological systems that naturally store water and slowly release it in drier times, building the resilience of ecosystems and communities,” explained Kari Vigerstol, director of Water Security Science and Innovation at The Nature Conservancy.

The expert also urged decision-makers to take into account both blue water —found in lakes, rivers, and reservoirs— and green water —available in the soil for plants and soil microorganisms—, as well as surface and underground water. The latter tends to be neglected and overexploited, and there are few collaborative management agreements for transboundary aquifers.

Finally, she made a case for involving water users in the management of the resource at all times, not only when the impacts of drought reach societies and economies, and pointed at the importance of weather forecasting, early warning systems, and technologies to enhance water efficiency in agriculture and reuse water.

Myth 5: Business can continue as usual

All countries can better prepare to coexist with drought and, according to UNCCD's Tsegai, the political momentum has never been higher. Especially, in the lead up to UNCCD COP16, the largest UN land and drought summit to date, which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2 to 13 December. 

At COP16, the 197 parties to the Convention will discuss, among others a global drought resilience framework, drawing on valuable inputs: the policy recommendations of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG) on Drought, established by the previous COP; the outcomes of the Drought Resilience+10 Conference (30 September-2 October, Geneva), focused on drought policy implementation; the insights from IDRA members and allies; and the lessons countries have learned by participating in regional and global communities of practice.

The summit in Riyadh will be crucial in fostering a new drought management regime of a global nature, and securing high-level political commitment to drought resilience in the lead up to 2030 and beyond.

For the UNCCD expert, the key components needed for countries to plan for drought, rather than simply respond to it, are there: the science, the economic case, the practical success examples, and the technical support.

“The next step is to get the governance, financing, and implementation wheels in motion. I am hopeful that countries will rise to the challenge and use every means at their disposal in the upcoming international fora to correct, once and for all, the course of drought management,” he concluded.