Social Aspects of Water Scarcity and Drought

Water scarcity and droughts are socio-environmental hazards that affect the lives of millions of people every year. This chapter examines the multi-faceted dimensions of these phenomena and their implications to human societies. Various aspects will be considered, including the relation with climate change, economic and socio-political dimensions, under the main focus of development studies. The introductory section discusses water scarcity and drought in the light of the international development goals and global environmental change. The second part will provide some popular definitions of concepts and measures, i.e., water scarcity/stress indicators and management strategies, water poverty and drought. The third part will consider relevant social-environmental concepts that are discussed in literature such as vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation. The fourth part will present case studies especially from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, to illustrate the relevance of human (including socio-cultural-political) structures shaping adaptation to drought. In this line, water scarcity and drought will be studied: 1) as a normal condition in some areas of the world (e.g., in the Saharan and Sahelian belts of Africa), where populations have established resilient socio-ecological systems; 2) in terms of climate change and progressive deterioration of the environment to which communities have either been able to adapt to (e.g., in southern Europe), or have been forced to experience crises, poverty and migrations (e.g., in Sudan, Morocco, Kenya); and 3) in terms of conflicts and residential segregation that makes water inaccessible to certain groups (e.g., in the West Bank). Finally, this chapter will conclude with some international conventions and regulations, like the UNFCCC and the European guidelines for drought risk management, addressing social problems related to drought.