Search

Due to climate change, the frequency and intensity of droughts are expected to increase. To improve resilience to droughts, proactive drought management is essential. Economic assessments are typically included to decide on the drought risk-reducing investments to make. The choice of both methods and scope of economic assessments influences the outcome, and thus the investment choice. This paper aims to identify how comprehensively economic assessments are applied in practice. Through a systematic literature review, 14 actual economic assessments are identified and their methods are evaluated based on seven criteria for economic assessments as derived from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The results show that in practice, economic assessments rarely address all criteria. Applying a limited number of criteria reduces the scope and narrows the approach, possibly leading to the underestimation of drought risk reduction approaches' related benefits. Applying the seven criteria in practice will improve the results of economic assessments of drought risk reduction measures, allowing for optimal investment selection. Based on the different criteria, a Framework for Economic Assessments of Drought Risk-Reducing Applications (FEADRRA) is proposed. Applying the criteria of the framework can support decision-makers in drought risk management and in carrying out the most fitting drought interventions. • Criteria of the economics of climate change rarely translate into practice. • Limited criteria included can underestimate risk-reducing measures' attractiveness. • A framework for the economic assessment of drought mitigation measures is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought-induced risk has attracted the attention of many scholars, but the risk of combined events caused by drought and high-temperature heat waves still needs further study. Based on MODIS products and meteorological data, the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of summer drought and high-temperature heat waves in the North China Plain from 2000 to 2018 were analyzed by the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), crop water stress index (CWSI) and high-temperature threshold, and their combined-events risk was evaluated. The results showed that (1) from 2000 to 2018, summer drought in the North China Plain became more severe. Especially in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces, drought increased significantly. (2) From 2000 to 2018, the frequency and intensity of high-temperature heat wave events in the North China Plain gradually increased at rates of 0.28 times/10 year and 1.6 °C/10 year, respectively. (3) The slightly high risk and high risk caused by summer drought were mainly distributed in Hebei Province and Tianjin Municipality in the north, and the risk change was characterized by a decrease in the north and an increase in the south. (4) The combined-events risk of summer drought and high-temperature heat waves did not increase significantly, with an increase rate of approximately 0.01/10 year. Among them, the increase rate of combined-events risk in Henan Province was the largest (0.14/10 year), followed by the obvious increase in northern Anhui, Jiangsu and southern Shandong, while the risk in Beijing showed a decreasing trend. The research results have scientific guiding significance for formulating disaster prevention and reduction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk assessment of drought disaster is necessary for the sustained agriculture development under the background of global climate change, and, meanwhile, it is an urgent scientific issue needed to be solved in agricultural risk assessment discipline. In this paper, collecting the areas covered by drought disasters, areas affected by drought disasters, areas with no harvest by drought disasters, areas planted, and yield per unit area data, agricultural drought disasters losses of the southern five provinces in China were calculated. The best probability density function was obtained according to the goodness of fit test results. Then, the value at risk (VaR) from financial market risk research method was used to the effective measure of agricultural drought risk. The results show that, in southern five provinces of our research region, risk of agricultural drought disaster in Yunnan and Guizhou is greater than other three provinces. In the scenario of 50 years and 100 years for a return, the crop loss caused by drought will reach 13.6% and 17.4% in Yunnan province, and the crop loss will be more serious in Guizhou province and be up to 15.3% and 18.1%. The above results can provide multifaceted information about drought risk that can help to guide management of drought disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]