Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Drought in the Anthropocene

Drought management is inefficient because feedbacks between drought and people are not fully understood. In this human-influenced era, we need to rethink the concept of drought to include the human role in mitigating and enhancing drought.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Drought propagation in the Anthropocene.
Figure 2: Hypothetical schematic of the distinction between climate-induced drought, human-induced drought and human-modified drought.

References

  1. AghaKouchak, A., Feldman, D., Hoerling, M., Huxman, T. & Lund, J. Nature 524, 409–4011 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Christian-Smith, J., Levy, M. C. & Gleick, P. H. Sustain. Sci. 10, 491–501 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Van Loon, A. F. WIREs Water 2, 359–392 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Dessai, S. & Sims, C. Environ. Hazards 9, 340–357 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wilhite, D. A. & Glantz, M. H. Water Int. 10, 111–120 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. IPCC Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (eds Field, C. B. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2012).

  7. Van Loon, A. F. & Van Lanen, H. A. J. Water Resour. Res. 49, 1483–1502 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Silva, A. C. S., Galvão, C. O. & Silva, G. N. S. Proc. Int. Assoc. Hydrol. 369, 129–134 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. et al. Water Resour. Res. 49, 1040–1057 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Montanari, A. et al. Hydrolog. Sci. J. 58, 1256–1275 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Wagener, T. et al. Water Resour. Res. 46, W05301 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Grant, S. B. et al. Environ. Sci. Tech. 47, 10727–10734 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anne F. Van Loon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Van Loon, A., Gleeson, T., Clark, J. et al. Drought in the Anthropocene. Nature Geosci 9, 89–91 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2646

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2646

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing