While there is increasing recognition by agencies that expert science and lay knowledge need to meet in decision-making around flood risk, drought risk communication and public engagement with the ‘flood-drought’ continuum bring different challenges that need to be addressed.
Many of the datasets and tools featured on this website do not require technical skills to access including the UK Water Resources Portal (link) which is described as ‘a new frontier in public access to water data’, and the Drought inventory Explorer (link) which is a searchable database of reports about water scarcity and drought in newspapers, agricultural press and Parliamentary debates going back to the 19th century. The DRY Story Bank contains more than 350 stories which can be searched via keywords.
The Public & Communities workstream has:
- Worked with the outcomes of the projects to build capital (knowledge, skills, dispositions) about drought risk management across diverse publics and communities, and integrated different knowledges in decision-making;
- Translated knowledge and understanding into improved drought event management. This was achieved through improved understanding of how different knowledges come together in situation monitoring, in how to respond to forecasts, and in how to use these evidence bases for decision-making and communication with public and communities;
- Proposed and trialled new ways of working/communicating between statutory decision makers and different publics.
Posted October 2019
Videos
Catharina Landstrom: Community involvement in drought