ABSTRACT
The purpose of the workshop was to identify constraints on drought planning and to recommend viable actions and specific research that governments and international organizations might implement to lessen the impact of future droughts. The workshop, like the symposium, was organized to approach drought as five separate but interrelated issues: drought prediction; detection, monitoring and early warning; impact assessment; adaptation; and response. The development of a drought plan is a positive step that demonstrates governmental concern about the effects of a potentially hazardous and recurring phenomenon. Post-drought evaluations have generally shown previous governmental assessment and response efforts to be largely ineffective, poorly coordinated, untimely, and economically inefficient. The traditional response by government to periods of severe drought has been to spread the costs throughout society. Drought should be viewed in a comprehensive systems context that incorporates all water-dependent biophysical processes and human activities.
