ABSTRACT
The drought policies and scientific modelling and extension discussed in this book are instruments of risk management, provided by governments and research agencies to influence the behaviour of individuals, businesses, and households. Some science-for example, that used to quantify the risk of dry periods-is directed at resources managers so that they develop systems, such as minimum tillage farming, dams of an appropriate size, and alternative income for agricultural service businesses to cope with variability over time. Other scientific work focuses on analysing and monitoring natural phenomena, such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) System, in an effort to provide early warnings so that managers can, for example, institute water restrictions, sell off livestock, or cull dominant species in a national park. Governments, informed by the economic and other social sciences as to the scope and scale of effects, try to influence the behaviour of the resources managers and those affected to ameliorate the impacts of the drought. Drought is normally classified as a ‘natural’ hazard, with the implication that little can be done to prevent each event. In this chapter, I argue for three qualifications of that narrow definition. People’s life and business choices influence the degree to which the base physical phenomenon, little or no rainfall, is a hazard to them. Second and related to that, droughts are also culturally and politically defined. Finally, if climate change contributes to an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts, then they are at least partly a technological risk; that is, there is some causation related to human agency.
