Dear members of the Global Community,

I would like to share our study “𝘿𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙪𝙢 – 𝙈𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙀𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙃𝙮𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡, 𝙀𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙨" by 43 authors from 34 institutions worldwide. Link to the paper: https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/24/3173/2024/

This story started in August 2022 at the 𝑫𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒆 (𝑫𝒊𝒕𝑨) network workshop in Uppsala, Sweden (see photo). There, we brainstormed about how seeing drought as single event only allows for crisis management. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘂𝗺.

When doing a 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 and collecting 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀, we noticed parallels between how drought manifests in the 𝗵𝘆𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺, 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺, and how drought (impacts) cascade and feedback between these systems.

In many meetings and iterations, we then came up with a 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘂𝗺𝘀 in these systems (see figure). A system can either be fluctuating but stable, it can have a positive trajectory building resilience with every drought event, a negative trajectory with a lack of recovery after drought, or a tipping point response due to a lack of preparedness.

Because of the great collaboration with the DitA group, we have been able to back this up with a very diverse set of literature, showcase these processes happening in real cases and formulate 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲.

I hope you enjoy reading our study and feel inspired to share your questions, and suggestions, and engage in discussions about it!