Drought impacts

Droughts have a wide range of consequences. Impacts linked to hydrological drought include adverse effects on aquatic ecology, losses in energy production, reduced possibilities for waterborne transportation, impairments of tourism and recreation, reduced water availability for public water supply or irrigated agriculture and implications for other surface- or groundwater-dependent sectors. This chapter introduces and provides an overview of drought impacts and how these can be classified. It covers data sources and methods to analyse drought impacts and describes applications of analyses and modelling of impacts in theory and with worked examples. Working quantitatively with drought impact information can help inform drought vulnerability assessment and drought risk management.