The World Drought Atlas: a wake-up call on drought risks and resilience

The World Drought Atlas is a new flagship report, produced in collaboration with the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the European Commission, and other partners, which aims to raise awareness of drought risk and resilience. Formally introduced at UNCCD's 16th Conference of Parties in Riyadh in December 2024, the Atlas is aimed at national and regional governments and policymakers, providing a starting point for implementing measures to address drought risks. Using primarily visual materials, the Atlas aims to: i) synthesize, map, and characterize current and future drivers that contribute to drought risks at the global level, ii) illustrate viable risk management and adaptation options, and iii) highlight examples from different systems and regions of the world.  

In this presentation, we introduce the Atlas to the research community, briefly covering content and structure before turning to a discussion of the process behind this collaborative effort between scientists and policymakers. We highlight the differences between peer-reviewed research and policy-oriented projects, the value of visual storytelling, and the importance of a globally distributed author list. We also discuss three of the Atlas’ most important messages and how they were addressed: 1) the combined socioecological character of drought, moving away from characterizations of drought as a “natural” hazard; 2) the broad impact of drought geographically, challenging notions that drought is only a problem in the developing world or in arid regions; and 3) the multisectoral and cascading nature of drought impacts, expanding beyond a traditional association of drought with agriculture. We finish with a short discussion of future plans for dissemination of the Atlas and its findings. 

Recognizing that the Atlas is itself an example of cross-disciplinary efforts to promote better drought management and adaptation, we see this discussion as an opportunity to share some of the lessons learned in engaging in interdisciplinary, applied work. We hope this work serves as an example of successful multisectoral collaboration that enhances our collective understanding of drought risks and how to manage and respond to them.