The Spatio-Temporal-Severity Dynamics of Drought in Botswana

Nnyaladzi Batisani

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DOI: 10.4236/jep.2011.26092                

Abstract

Drought is a reoccurring natural hazard in semi-arid regions. However, despite its regular occurrence disaster managers are still to develop concrete measures of mitigating and adapting to it. A fist step to the development of such measures is the determination of the spatial drought vulnerability variability. The goal of this paper is to determine the spatio-temporal severity drought occurrence, which is vital for drought mitigation planning and resources allocation during responses. To reach this goal, the paper determines the probability of occurrence of different drought categories based on the Standardized Precipitation Index. The analysis identifies areas vulnerable to agricultural and hydrological droughts at various severity levels. The spatial variation in drought occurrence suggests that drought vulnerability maps should be availed to disaster planners for efficient resource allocation during responses and mitigation and development of adaptation measures.

Keywords

Drought, Vulnerability, Climate Change, Disaster Management, Standardized Precipitation Index

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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