Abstract
Droughts are deeply intertwined with socio-economic and ecological systems across temporal and spatial scales. They are getting more severe and frequent under climate change and human pressures, affecting livelihoods, socio-economic sectors and the environment. Addressing these multifaceted impacts of droughts now and in the future will require actionable insights and a comprehensive research agenda. In this Perspective we draw on the interdisciplinary expertise of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences Working Group on ‘Drought in the Anthropocene’ and participants of the Drought Resilience +10 conference, a follow-up to the first High-Level Meeting on National Drought Policy in 2013. We synthesize ten key insights from drought research that have emerged in the past decade and highlight their relevance for policy and practice. Furthermore, we identify ten critical research gaps that must be addressed over the coming decade to further guide drought governance, strengthen drought resilience and effectively combat the water crisis.
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Data availability
The raw data for the online survey are available from the corresponding author on request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the participants of the Drought Resilience +10 conference, and the IAHS Drought in the Anthropocene research network, for helping identify the insights and gaps described in this Perspective. Specifically, we thank the following participants for assisting us in the conceptualization (CO), data collection (C), gap/insight definition (D), elaboration of missing gap/insight (E) and feedback on the lists and text (F): A.M.S. Alqahtani (C), A. W. Worqlul (C), A. A. C. Attiogbe (C), A. S. Khudier Abas (C), A. Soloviev (C), A. P. DA Cunha (C), A. Van Loon (CO, C, F), A. Akpan (C), A. Cancelliere (C), B. Moccia (E, F), B. Höllermann (F), C. King (F), C. Wilfrid (C), C. T. Canedo Rosso (C, D, F); D. Bagale (C, F), D. Tsegai (C, D, F), D. W. Walker (F), D. Cotti (C), D. Kabakana (C), D. Tetzlaff (F), D. Wendt (C), E. Cremonese (C, D, F), E. M. Mendiondo (F), E. Ridolfi (E, F), E. Stenfors (C, E, F), E. Paton (C, D, F), F. Russo (F), F. K. Donkor (C), F. Avanzi (C, E, F), F. Napolitano (F), F. Ludwig (D, E), G. Koren (C, F), G. Bruno (F), G. Castelli (C, F), H. Aksoy (C, F), I. Hoteit (C), I. Streefkerk (C), J. Montero Tejeda (C), J.-E. Buchter (C, D), J. C. Fernandez (F), J.-P. Vidal (F), K. Rasouli (C, F), K. K. Aristide (C), K. O. iMotsumi (C), L. S. Hunning (F), L. Rossi (C, D, F), L. M. Tallaksen (F), L. Villani (C, E, F), L. Piemontese (C), M. Jampani (C), M. Brunner (C, F), M. Cataldi (C), M. M. Ciprian (C, D, F), M. Kireeva (C, D, E, F), M. Madruga de Brito (C, F), M. Lam (C,D), M. Pasqui (C, D, E, F), M. Cypriani (C), M. Ionita-Scholtz (F), M. Hlavsova (D, F), M. H. Siddiqui (C, F), M. T. Bhatti (C, F), N. Nakashona (C, F), O. Prat (C, D, F), P. Wagner (F), P. van Oel (C, D, F), R. Vignola (C, E, F), S. Vazifehkhah (C, D, F), S. Sutanto (C, D, E, F), S. Shukla (D, E, F), S. Maskey (F), S. Moulds (D, E, F), T. F. Kofitio (C), T. Roy (C, F), T. Gleeson (C, F), V. B. Portal Chagas (C, F), Y. Markonis, Y. Bamutaze (C, F), Y. Cavus (C, F) and Z. Alhajji (C). M.L.K.W. received funding from the Dutch ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap under the Sectorplan Bètawetenschappen education and research programme. M.H. has received financial support through the EW4IGAD III project funded by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (grant agreement UNDRR/GR/2024/045) and through the GreenAdapt2Extremes project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant agreement 02WWA1706) and the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme under the 2022 Joint Transnational Call of the European Partnership Water4All (grant agreement number 101060874). A.S. received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement number 956396 (EDIPI project). M.W. has received financial support through the I-CISK project funded under the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement number 101037293).
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Conceptualization: M.L.K.W. and M.H. Methodology; data curation; investigation and formal analysis; writing–draft completion; review and editing: M.L.K.W., M.H., A.S., M.W. and A.T. Writing original draft of individual sections: M.L.K.W., M.H., A.S., M.W., A.T., P.H.L.A., A.C.A., J.E.B., W.-H.N., S.R., J.R., C.R.S., M.Z., A.-S.S.-S., K.S., F.T., P.T., M.T.H.v.V., M.v.T., B. Bonaccorso, R.B., B. Biess, A.N.S. and I.M. Visualization: M.H., S.R. Coordination/supervision; data collection/curation: M.L.K.W.
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Wens, M.L.K., Hagenlocher, M., Shyrokaya, A. et al. Ten key insights and gaps to inform drought risk research, policy and practice.
Nat Water (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-026-00651-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-026-00651-8
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