Groundbreaking Work on Natural Resources and Public Policy at UNL
Students looking to natural resources and public policy careers may be surprised at groundbreaking work happening right now in drought readiness at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
A national leader in this area at UNL's School of Natural Resources calls it "The move to a new paradigm in drought management." Don Wilhite, director of UNL’s National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), said the message has been around since the birth of his drought research program in the early 1980s and formation of the NDMC in 1995.
Only in the last decade or so, working closely with leading scientific organizations and regional, state and local decision makers, have he and colleagues begun to get Congress’ attention, however.
The unflagging effort by a relative few has led to funding needed to revamp national and even international, thinking about the most costly of natural hazards. Funding is now being directed toward analytical and decision-support tools made more sophisticated than ever and accessible to anyone with a computer.
For more than two decades Wilhite has been telling policymakers and anyone else who will listen the hazards of what he calls “The hydro-illogical cycle.” The cycle starts with public apathy when rainfall is normal. When droughts begin and slowly build, awareness of its often far-reaching impacts grows.
This is typically followed by concern, then panic as people and governments see the magnitude of impacts and how poorly prepared most are to manage drought effectively.
When the rains return, so does apathy.
In contrast to other natural hazards, drought does not lead to loss of life or property in the U.S. Yet its economic, social, and environmental costs are estimated at more than $6 to $8 billion annually.
The solution is in viewing drought as a natural part of climate and pursue a risk-management approach. To that end, in cooperation with the Geological Society of America and others, Wilhite helped organize a national conference called Managing Drought and Water Scarcity in Vulnerable Environments: Creating a Roadmap for Change in the United States.
"Going in, I didn’t expect any grand revelations, but it was a participatory conference, not just speakers. We heard from many stakeholders groups, and what came out of it was more specific ideas from end users,” Wilhite said.
One of these was for communities that had implemented drought plans....who could then promote themselves as “drought-ready” communities as a draw for visitors and business.
Relaying key issues emerging from the conference, held in Longmont, Colo. last September, Wilhite told Congress soon after that the U.S. must do a better job of preparing for drought.
Climate change creates the probability, especially in the Western U.S., that droughts will last longer than anything since record keeping began about 110 years ago. Population increases, urbanization and land use changes mean the effects of drought will be more acute, as well.
Wilhite and conference organizers are also drafting “The Roadmap for Change,” to be ready this spring, in time for the next round of discussions on a national drought policy.
For his testimony, he condensed conference discussions into these messages:
- Increase understanding of the “drought hazard” and how it may change in frequency, severity and duration. This involves better monitoring and understanding of droughts through studies of ancient climate and more projections of the possible effects of climate change.
- Improve understanding of how social vulnerability to drought is changing.
- Emphasize managing drought risks. Relief programs often support the traditional reactive cycle and reward lack of planning. Instead, agricultural producers, natural resource managers and planners should be encouraged to adopt measures to more proactively cope with moisture and water supply shortages.
- Improve assessment of the broad range of drought impacts. We know that agriculture is only one of the sectors affected by drought, but its larger social, environmental and economic effects are not well documented.
- Develop a national drought policy that outlines how to reduce social vulnerability to drought. It includes monitoring, risk assessment, planning and improved coordination among all levels of government. The Government Accounting Office recommended a national drought plan in 1980, but the traditional reactive, crisis-management approach predominates.
- Create a new “National Water Culture” that would promote sustainable water-management practices.
Wilhite’s testimony to the Congressional Hazards Caucus supported two pending pieces of legislation.
The first is the National Drought Preparedness Act, draft legislation created with the Western Governors’ Association. It would create a national drought policy within a lead federal agency for drought, one that determines responsibilities for coordinating and integrating federal drought assistance.
The second would create the National Integrated Drought Information System, which would provide water users with the capacity to assess their drought risk in real time before its onset. NIDIS has passed both the House and Senate and is currently awaiting the President’s signature, he said.
"We’ve continued to talk about the (fall) drought conference, and it’s gotten a lot of play. We just need to motivate Congress and the administration to change,” Wilhite said.
"I think there is movement there. I think these documents (‘Roadmap to Change’ and the summary for Congress) might help them latch onto something. You can’t change the whole mindset of government quickly, but gradually you can begin to instill some new ideas.”
