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Project

CROSS-sectoral impact assessment of DROughts in complex European basins (CROSSDRO)

Description:

During the last 20 years drought losses have amounted to 6.2 billion per year in Europe. Drought causes multi- and cross-sectorial impacts both from environmental and socio-economic points of view. There are complex hydrological and environmental connections among drought types (meteorological, hydrological, environmental, agricultural and socioeconomic) making it very difficult to assess impacts. CROSSDRO will develop a multi-sectoral and cross-scale evaluation of drought impacts in complex European basins.

Project objectives seek to advance scientific understanding and develop practical guidance through the engagement of key stakeholders throughout the work. Specifically, CROSSDRO will determine the interrelated impacts of droughts on forestry and land cover, water resources (over different sub-systems, i.e., snow, streamflow, reservoir level and ground water), and different economic sectors that are highly vulnerable to water resources availability: e.g., agriculture, hydro-power and tourism. The objectives will be reached by means of experimental studies, both in the field and the laboratory, remote sensing, historical series and modelling approaches that account for past droughts and future scenarios. 

CROSSDRO will provide answers to key relevant issues:

  1. what is the direct impact of droughts on snow cover, forest growth and health, water resources and irrigated and rain fed crops?
  2. what is the connection between biophysical and socioeconomic drought mechanisms among these sectors and across different spatial scales and environmental conditions?
  3. what is the capability of models to reproduce multi- and cross-sectoral drought impacts in complex regions and what is the uncertainty in the predictions?
  4. what are the expected impacts of drought episodes under future scenarios?
  5. how can the assessment of drought impacts and development of basin impact models improve environmental and societal resilience to drought?
  6. what is the expected adaptive response of society to drought and to foresee interactions?

Project information

Lead

Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain

Partners

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany;

Maynooth University (MU), Ireland;

Lund University (ULUND), Sweden;

Selectia Research Institute of Field Crops (RIFC), Moldova;

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain

Source of funding

BMBF (Germany), EPA (Ireland), FORMAS, Sweden, MINECO-AEI, Spain, NARD, Moldova

Reference information

Websites:

Published in Climate-ADAPT May 10 2022   -   Last Modified in Climate-ADAPT Dec 12 2023

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