Drought, social agents and the construction of discourse in Andalusia

Despite the severity of the last droughts in Spain, there has not been any significant shift in the current planning strategies, due to a significant resistance to abandoning traditional practices against this hydrological risk. To better understand the origin of this resistance, the changing role of the relevant stakeholders in the debate and the key issues, this paper is aimed at undertaking a discursive analysis of the information conveyed by the media in hydrological years 2004–2005 and 2011–2012, through the application of the software Atlas.ti.This work has been funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Research Project “DIRECTIVA MARCO DEL AGUA Y RIESGOS HÍDRICOS: GESTIÓN Y MITIGACIÓN DE SEQUÍAS (GESTISEQ)” (CSO2011–29425), and Andalusia's Regional Government, Research Project “DESARROLLO DE UN MODELO DE ANTICIPACIÓN A LAS SEQUÍAS BASADO EN ESCENARIOS DINÁMICOS (GUADALSEQ)” (P11-HUM-7922)

Methodology For The Analysis Of Causes Of Drought Vulnerability On River Basin Scale.

Política de acceso abierto tomada de: https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/16695The concept of vulnerability has emerged in recent decades as a key concept for the research on drought risk as well as in the implementation of mitigation strategies of drought risk. The context within which this concept emerges is one of scientific consensus: the research community agrees that we are witnessing a paradigm shift in water management policies, within a broader framework of changes in the relationship between humans and nature. In this context, vulnerability studies must become an instrument for the assessment and mitigation of risk. Based on the proposals put forward by the IPCC concerning the components of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity), this paper proposes a methodology for the evaluation and analysis of drought vulnerability on the river basin scale. The methodology results in the calculation of a Drought Vulnerability Index (DVI) and the use of different techniques for the interpretation of results

Challenges for the Integration of Water Resource and Drought-Risk Management in Spain

Droughts are risks characterized by their complexity, uncertainty, and a series of other features, which differentiate them from other natural disasters and affect the strategies designed to manage them. These characteristics highlight the close relationship between drought management and water resources management. The following hypothesis is raised in this study—unsatisfactory integration of a drought-risk and water resources management strategies, increases the vulnerability to drought. To corroborate this hypothesis, the Spanish case was analyzed, where droughts are a recurrent phenomenon, due to the Mediterranean climate. Starting from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) framework, which has been proposed to characterize vulnerability as a function of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, this study analyzed the vulnerability in the Spanish River Basin Districts, through—(i) the integration of the predictable effects of climate change and the increased risk of exposure in hydrologic planning; (ii) the pressure on water resources that determines the sensitivity of the systems; and (iii) the development and implementation of drought management plans as a fundamental tool, in order to adapt before these events occur. The results showed that despite important advances in the process of conceiving and managing droughts, in Spain, there are still important gaps for an adequate integration of droughts risk into the water resource strategies. Therefore, despite the improvements, drought-risk vulnerability of the systems remained high.Plan Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad—FEDER. Convocatoria 2015, grant number CSO2015-64026-P “Evaluación de la vulnerabilidad socio-institucional a las sequías: propuesta metodológica, estudio de caso y elaboración de una Guía (EVALSOC)”

Propuesta metodológica para la evaluación y el análisis de la vulnerabilidad a las sequías a escala de demarcación hidrográfica. Aplicación al caso del Guadalete-Barbate

Programa de Doctorado en Estudios MedioambientalesLos estudios sobre la vulnerabilidad al riesgo de sequía deben avanzar en relación al diseño de marcos operativos que permitan su evaluación y, así, su uso como herramienta para la mitigación del riesgo. Para ello, partiendo de la propuesta del IPCC sobre los componentes de la vulnerabilidad (exposición, sensibilidad y capacidad de adaptación), en esta Tesis se propone una metodología para la evaluación y el análisis de la vulnerabilidad asociada al riesgo de sequía a nivel de Demarcación Hidrográfica, que se concreta en el cálculo de un Índice de Vulnerabilidad a la Sequía (IVS), así como en el uso de una serie de técnicas para la interpretación de los valores resultantes, que se aplica al caso de estudio de la Demarcación del Guadalete-Barbate.Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla. Departamento de Geografía, Historia y FilosofíaPostprin

Análisis sobre el cumplimiento de los Planes de emergencia por sequía para abastecimientos urbanos en Andalucía

Drought risk adaptation is one of the main challenges facing urban environments reinforced by the forecasts of climate change on the increase in frequency and intensity of these phenomena in southern Europe. Thus, developing and applying management adaptation strategies is a priority issue in these environments. Drought plans are the main tool to face drought risk based on prevention, preparation and risk adaptation in each specific context. In Spain, article 27 of Law 10/2001 of the National Hydrological Plan (PHN) compels urban water supply administrations to prepare Urban Water Drought Emergency Plans (PEM) in urban supplies systems. The work aims to analyze the degree of compliance with the obligation to develop Drought Risk Plans (PEM) in urban supply systems in Andalusia, a territory repeatedly affected by this hazard. For this, a structured analysis of information on hydrological planning and urban supply systems of the Autonomous Community has been carried out. The results show an almost systematic breach of this obligation and therefore a lack of preparation to deal with this type of events in the urban supply systems of Andalusia.El desarrollo y la aplicación de estrategias de gestión del riesgo de sequía adaptadas a los entornos urbanos es uno de los principales retos que plantea el cambio climático. En este sentido, los planes de sequía suponen una herramienta fundamental para la anticipación, la preparación y adaptación al riesgo en cada contexto específico. El artículo 27 de la Ley 10/2001 de Plan Hidrológico Nacional articula la obligación de elaborar e Planes de Emergencia por Sequía (PEM) en los abastecimientos urbanos. El objetivo de esta investigación es realizar un análisis sobre el cumplimiento de la obligación de elaborar estos PEM en los abastecimientos urbanos de Andalucía, territorio que recurrentemente se ve afectado por este riesgo. Para ello se ha realizado un análisis estructurado de información de la planificación hidrológica y los sistemas de abastecimiento urbano de esta Comunidad Autónoma. Los resultados arrojan un incumplimiento casi sistemático de esta obligación y por tanto una falta de preparación para hacer frente a este tipo de eventos en los ámbitos urbanos de Andalucía

Comportamiento fotocatalítico de nanopartículas de TiO2 y TiO2/CS bajo irradiación UV

Nanopartículas de TiO2 y nanocompuestos de TiO2/CS se han sintetizado mediante el método sol-gel. Se llevó a cabo la caracterización por XRD, FTIR y UV-vis para determinar la estructura, el tamaño, los grupos funcionales y la banda prohibida de energía de los sistemas de muestra. Además, se estudió la capacidad de degradación del anaranjado de metilo (AM) de las nanopartículas y los nanocompuestos bajo luz ultravioleta, y los resultados son descritos en detalle.TiO2 nanoparticles and TiO2/CS nanocomposites have been synthesized using the sol-gel method. Characterization by XRD, FTIR, and UV-vis was carried out to determine the structure, size, functional groups, and energy band gap of the synthesized samples. Moreover, the methyl orange (MO) degradation capability of nanoparticles and nanocomposites under ultraviolet light was studied, and the results are described in detail

The role played by environmental concern and institutional trust in changing public preferences for water management

Efforts to improve the efficiency of irrigation systems in areas which suffer from water scarcity have often failed to reduce water demand owing to the constant expansion of irrigation. Andalusia, in southern Spain, is a clear case in point, as the publicly funded programs aimed at improving irrigation put forward since the 1990s after recurrent episodes of drought have not been able to meet agrarian demand. This situation has generated an active debate among stakeholders and public managers. This study aims to investigate the role of public opinion in this debate, as demanded by new water governance models, embodied in the Water Framework Directive. We use the results of a representative annual survey in Andalusia between 2004 and 2013. First, we analyze the evolution of public support for the two most costly public measures: constructing reservoirs and improving irrigation. Second, we analyze some attitudes that may have affected a change in public opinion, including institutional trust and environmental concern. The results suggest that the public legitimizes the administration's bid for more efficient irrigation systems, essentially for environmental reasons. However, should attempts to control water demand continue to fail, support for this measure may be withdrawn

Drought-related media analysis from Andalusia and São Paulo

Drought risk is a complex phenomenon that leads to different interpretations, public understanding of causes, consequences and adaptation strategies and, therefore, different responses. To date, and despite the rise of social media, mass media are still the main way through which society receives information about drought, mainly owing to accessibility and periodicity. Media content analysis can be useful not only for identifying the relevant stakeholders in debates about definition and management but also for monitoring the evolution of key issues over time. This work presents a methodology to systematise drought-related media content analysis. The methodology has been tested in two widely different case studies: The Autonomous Community of Andalusia in Spain and the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo in Brazil, which were recently exposed to drought. Results show that the methodology is applicable to different settings, regardless of the number of media outlets and the news stories analysed. The paper incidentally also shows the resistance to the paradigm shift in terms of drought management measures, where in both cases traditional measures based on increasing water availability continue to predominate over the measures of risk planning and mitigation

Spatiotemporal characterization of meteorological drought: a global approach using the Drought Exceedance Probability Index (DEPI)

We present a global spatiotemporal characterization of meteorological droughts using historical precipitation data through the Drought Exceedance Probability Index (DEPI). The relationship between meteorological drought characteristics and monthly precipitation is explored at a global level. This study contributes to our understanding of the drought features observed in different areas of the planet, which can help predict the behavior of future droughts. The DEPI was applied to the Climate Research Unit global gridded high-resolution rainfall data set covering the period 1901-2019. Monthly drought index series were examined to extract the number of droughts experienced in each pixel (0.50° × 0.50°) of the globe, as well as their durations, intensities and severities. Results show agreement with other global drought characterization efforts, revealing areas with a greater drought occurrence. This paper demonstrates that regions with less seasonality and less intra- and inter-annual rainfall variability report fewer drought episodes. Duration and severity of droughts are also related to these rainfall features. The last part of the study describes the temporal distribution of droughts throughout the world. We conclude that regions with many events show stable, even distributions over time, but many pixels in the intertropical regions, the Middle East and smaller patches in Mongolia, China, Siberia and Canada currently show higher-intensity and longer-duration drought events than at the beginning of the twentieth century, while the opposite occurs in parts of Scandinavia, Russia, Argentina and Tanzania. The analysis demonstrates that DEPI is easy to use, is applicable to different climates and is effective in detecting the onset, end and intensity of droughts