摘要：Drought monitoring and early warning systems (DEWSs) areseen as helpful tools to tackle drought at an early stage and reduce thepossibility of harm or loss. They usually include indices attributed tometeorological, agricultural and/or hydrological drought: physically baseddrought drivers. These indices are used to determine the onset, end andseverity of a drought event. Drought impacts, like water and foodsecurities, are less monitored or even not included in DEWSs. Therefore, thelikelihood of experiencing these impacts is often simply linearly linked todrivers of drought. The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity of theassumed direct linkage between drivers of drought and water and foodinsecurity impacts of drought. We reviewed scientific literature on bothdrivers and impacts of drought. We conducted a bibliometric analysis basedon 5000+ scientific studies in which selected drought indices (drivers)and drought-related water and food insecurities (impacts) were mentioned inrelation to a geographic area. Our review shows that there is a tendency inscientific literature to focus on drivers of drought, with the preferred useof meteorological and remotely sensed drought indices. Studies reportingdrought impacts are more localised, with relatively many studies focusing onsub-Saharan Africa and Australasia for impacts with regard to food securityand water security, respectively. Our review further suggests that studiesof food and water insecurity impacts related to drought are dependent onboth the physical and human processes occurring in the geographic area, i.e.the local context. With the aim of increasing the relevance and utility ofthe information provided by DEWSs, we argue in favour of additionalconsideration of drought impact indices oriented towards sustainabledevelopment and human welfare.
