Humanitarian management of drought needs better water security data
Author(s)
Veness, William A
Balfour, Nancy
O'Keeffe, Jimmy
Buytaert, Wouter
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Droughts are a primary driver of humanitarian crises in arid regions, yet early warning systems that index humanitarian financing often omit water security data in favour of food security monitoring. Based on 42 expert interviews assessing management barriers and information needs during the 2020–24 drought in the Horn of Africa, resulting in an estimated 71,100 excess deaths in Somalia alone, we find water security data to be critical in shifting management to proactive mechanisms. Monitoring of water availability (such as water quality and groundwater/surface water levels) and water access (such as water prices and household surveys) is needed to design solutions that proactively mitigate water shortages and their secondary impacts on food security (such as through borehole rehabilitation, alternative water supplies, and cash transfers). Furthermore, if causal relations between water and food insecurity are analysed, the cost–benefit basis for financing water supply interventions can be more completely propositioned, and food insecurity hotspots can be better anticipated.
Date Issued
2025-07-01
Date Acceptance
2025-03-16
Citation
Disasters, 2025, 49 (3)
ISSN
0361-3666
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Disasters
Volume
49
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Author(s). Disasters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of ODI Global. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/40364551
Subjects
anticipatory action
disaster risk reduction
drought
early warning systems
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Environmental Studies
food security
Horn of Africa
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Science & Technology
Social Sciences
Social Sciences - Other Topics
Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
SOMALIA
SYSTEMS
water security
WEATHER
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
e12687
Date Publish Online
2025-05-13