Stakeholder Coinquiries on Drought Impacts, Monitoring and Early Warning Systems

The goal of the DrIVER (Drought Impacts: Vulnerability thresholds in monitoring and Early-warning Research) research project is to understand the links between natural (hydro-meteorological) drought and ecological response and socio-economic impacts to aid in developing enhanced drought early warning systems (DEWS). Three stakeholder workshops were convened in the USA, UK and Australia. The USA water supply case study engaged 27 community water suppliers and state, federal and private advisors in the Neuse and Cape Fear River basins in North Carolina. The UK workshop involved 34 national and regional stakeholders across the water supply, environmental regulation, agriculture, energy and health sectors. The Australian workshop brought together 30 mostly state-based participants from the water suppliers and water users sectors. The workshops enabled learning about participants’ experiences of droughts and drought impacts and identified future needs for DEWS. The collective insights from these workshops are reported.