Quick guide: Dealing with droughts and water scarcity

This series of quick guides equips local and regional authorities with practical tools to enhance climate resilience. Each guide addresses a specific hazard, offering clear, actionable advice through infographics, checklists, case studies, and key resources-making complex challenges easier to understand and act upon.

To better understand your drought risks, there are several data sources, maps, and tools available:

• ThinkHazard!: Quickly assess the risk of water scarcity in your area by simply entering the name of your location.
• European Drought Observatory: Offers a map of the current drought situation in Europe, updated every 10 days, using a Combined Drought Indicator.
• Water Exploitation Index Plus (WEI+): Reflects water scarcity conditions in Europe caused by droughts and overexploitation.
• European Drought Impact Database: Provides maps and detailed information on past drought events and their impacts across Europe.
• European Drought Risk Atlas (2023): Includes comprehensive data, maps, and graphs on how future droughts may affect agriculture (e.g., projected crop yield losses), public water supply, energy production, river transport, and both terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.