ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The occurrence of droughts and especially their recurrent character ask for comprehensive monitoring to manage drought events and to minimize negative environmental, societal, and economic impacts. Responsible drought management supports and enhances continuous improvement of monitoring and forecasting tools. One remaining obstacle for adequate drought management is the lack of a satisfying operational drought definition for decision makers. Drought indices are used as tools to define drought patterns, but they are mainly based on hydro-meteorological or satellite data, and do not reflect regional properties like perceptions, management, and demand aspects. This paper presents a discussion on existing drought definitions and explores the idea of establishing drought definitions on basin scale to improve drought management. This objective follows the idea of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), which would enhance the linkage between drought and water management.
