Community of Practice | Relative Drought Risk Assessment: Learning from Regions
Relative drought is defined as a sustained precipitation deficit that reduces water availability below typical regional conditions. The severity, duration, and spatial distribution of such events determine their progression and consequences, affecting human populations, economic activities, and ecosystems. Understanding where and when these dynamics occur is essential for improving water management strategies and strengthening resilience to changing environmental conditions.
This CLIMAAX Community of Practice webinar is the fifth in the new hazard- and workflow-focused series. Participants gained insights into how regional teams have assessed relative drought hazard likelihood, exposure, and vulnerability, and how the resulting analysis has informed local adaptation planning and risk management strategies.
Through discussions with Toolbox developers, participants delved deeper into methodological choices, challenges, and lessons learned, supporting the translation of relative drought risk assessment into actionable resilience strategies.
The session introduced the Relative Drought Workflow, with presentations by Silvia Artuso (IIASA), who detailed the technical framework for monitoring relative drought by combining hazard, exposure, and vulnerability to compare and prioritise regions within a country.
The programme transitioned to regional implementation, showcasing a series of diverse case studies. Emese Décsi (Municipality District 12 of Budapest) delivered a presentation on local resilience efforts in Hungary, demonstrating how the workflow was adapted to an urban context to safeguard green spaces, parks, and forests. This was followed by insights from Aris Koutroulis (Region of Crete), who showed how these tools support water resource management and municipal decision-making in Greece.
The session concluded with a moderated panel discussion, a summary of key takeaways, and an overview of upcoming events.