Drought risk evaluation model with interval number ranking and its application

Scientometric review on multiple climate-related hazards indices

As the spectre of climate change looms large, there is an increasing imperative to develop comprehensive risk assessment tools. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the evolution and current state of research on multi-hazard indices associated with climate-related hazards, highlighting their crucial role in effective risk assessment amidst the growing challenges of climate change. A notable gap in cross-regional comparative studies persists, presenting an opportunity for future research to enhance global understanding and foster universal resilience strategies. However, a significant surge in research output is apparent, following key global milestones related to climate change action. The research landscape is shown to be highly responsive to international policy developments, increasingly adopting interdisciplinary approaches that integrate physical, social, and technological dimensions. Findings reveal a robust emphasis on geospatial analysis and the development of various indices that transform abstract climate risks into actionable data, underscoring a trend towards localized, context-specific vulnerability assessments. Based on dataset systematically curated under the PRISMA guidelines, the review explores how prevailing research themes are reflected in influential journals and author networks, mapping out a dynamic and expanding academic community. Moreover, this work provides critical insights into the underlying literature by conducting a thematic analysis on the typology of studies, the focus on coastal areas, the inclusion of climate change scenarios, the geographical coverage, and the types of climate-related hazards. The practical implications of this review are profound, providing policymakers and practitioners with meaningful insights to enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts through the application of index-based methodologies. By charting a course for future scholarly endeavours, this article aims to strengthen the scientific foundations supporting resilient and adaptive strategies for regions worldwide facing the multifaceted impacts of climate change.

Multi-hazard assessment of climate-related hazards for European coastal cities

The assessment of risk posed by climate change in coastal cities encompasses multiple climate-related hazards. Sea-level rise, coastal flooding and coastal erosion are important hazards, but they are not the only ones. The varying availability and quality of data across cities hinders the ability to conduct holistic and standardized multi-hazard assessments. Indeed, there are far fewer studies on multiple hazards than on single hazards. Also, the comparability of existing methodologies becomes challenging, making it difficult to establish a cohesive understanding of the overall vulnerability and resilience of coastal cities. The use of indicators allows for a standardized and systematic evaluation of baseline hazards across different cities. The methodology developed in this work establishes a framework to assess a wide variety of climate-related hazards across diverse coastal cities, including sea-level rise, coastal flooding, coastal erosion, heavy rainfall, land flooding, droughts, extreme temperatures, heatwaves, cold spells, strong winds and landslides. Indicators are produced and results are compared and mapped for ten European coastal cities. The indicators are meticulously designed to be applicable across different geographical contexts in Europe. In this manner, the proposed approach allows interventions to be prioritized based on the severity and urgency of the specific risks faced by each city.

Assessment of Vulnerability to Drought Disaster in Agricultural Reservoirs in South Korea

Drought is a natural disaster affecting agriculture worldwide. Drought mitigation and proactive response require a comprehensive vulnerability mapping approach considering various factors. This study investigates the vulnerability to agricultural drought in South Korea based on exposure, sensitivity, and adaptability. The evaluation of agricultural drought factors yielded 14 items, which are categorized into meteorological, agricultural reservoir, social, and adaptability factors. Each item is assigned a weight using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). We analyzed vulnerability to drought disaster in agricultural reservoirs, and generated vulnerability maps by applying the vulnerability framework for climate change. The generated map was divided into four categories based on drought vulnerability: A (Very high), B (High), C (Moderate), and D (Low). The weights for the meteorological (0.498), agricultural reservoir (0.286), social (0.166), and adaptability (0.05) factors were obtained using AHP. The rating frequencies were 41.91%, 19.76%, 9.58%, and 5.39% for A, B, C, and D, respectively. The western region is extremely vulnerable to meteorological and agricultural reservoir factors, whereas the eastern region is more vulnerable to adaptability. The results of this study visually represent agricultural drought and can be used for evaluating regional drought vulnerability for assisting preemptive drought responses to identify and support drought-prone areas.

Assessing Agricultural Vulnerability to Drought in a Heterogeneous Environment: A Remote Sensing-Based Approach

Agriculture is one of the fundamental economic activities in most countries; however, this sector suffers from various natural hazards including flood and drought. The determination of drought-prone areas is essential to select drought-tolerant crops in climate sensitive vulnerable areas. This study aims to enhance the detection of agricultural areas with vulnerability to drought conditions in a heterogeneous environment, taking Bangladesh as a case study. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land cover products from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images have been incorporated to compute the vegetation index. In this study, a modified vegetation condition index (mVCI) is proposed to enhance the estimation of agricultural drought. The NDVI values ranging between 0.44 to 0.66 for croplands are utilized for the mVCI. The outcomes of the mVCI are compared with the traditional vegetation condition index (VCI). Precipitation and crop yield data are used for the evaluation. The mVCI maps from multiple years (2006–2018) have been produced to compute the drought hazard index (DHI) using a weighted sum overlay method. The results show that the proposed mVCI enhances the detection of agricultural drought compared to the traditional VCI in a heterogeneous environment. The “Aus” rice-growing season (sown in mid-March to mid-April and harvested in mid-July to early August) receives the highest average precipitation (>400 mm), and thereby this season is less vulnerable to drought. A comparison of crop yields reveals the lowest productivity in the drought year (2006) compared to the non-drought year (2018), and the DHI map presents that the north-west region of Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to agricultural drought. This study has undertaken a large-scale analysis that is important to prioritize agricultural zones and initiate development projects based on the associated level of vulnerability.

Assessing drought vulnerability using geospatial techniques in northwestern part of Bangladesh

Drought is a damaging and costly natural disaster that frequently affects many climatic regions in the world. A multi-criteria-based approach for integrated spatial drought vulnerability mapping that combines all drought categories is required to generate detailed vulnerability information for formulating drought mitigation strategies. This study presents a spatial multi-criteria integrated approach for mapping comprehensive drought vulnerability using geospatial techniques and an analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The developed approach was applied in the northwestern region of Bangladesh to justify its applicability. A total of 17 criteria under 4 drought categories, namely, meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socio-economic, were selected. Moreover, spatial layers for each criterion were developed. AHP was used to calculate the weights for each criterion and drought types using pair-wise comparison matrices. Individual categories of drought and overall drought vulnerability maps were developed using the weighted overlay technique by integrating the corresponding criteria. The produced maps effectively defined the spatial extents and levels (e.g. normal, mild, moderate, severe and extreme) of drought vulnerability. Results demonstrated that approximately 77% of the total area of the north-western region of Bangladesh was moderately to extremely vulnerable to drought. The output of the developed approach was successfully validated using the receiver operating characteristics and area under the curve techniques. The findings suggest that the proposed approach is highly effective in mapping comprehensive drought vulnerability for formulating strong drought mitigation strategies.