New forecasting and foresight tools have been published by the Commission to enhance the EU’s preparedness to combat droughts and water scarcity. The two tools, the European Drought Impacts Database and the European Drought Risk Atlas, are available to the public as part of the Risk Assessment on water scarcity and droughts of the European Drought Observatory.
The Drought Risk Atlas uses machine learning to simulate the impact that an increase of temperature of +1.5, 2 and 3 Degrees Celsius can have in the future. Developed by scientists at the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the projections show in which regions of the European Union water will become scarcer than elsewhere and which economic sectors and subsectors will be most affected.
“To make Europe water resilient, we first need to better understand drought risks. Forewarned is forearmed, and these new tools do just that. The reasons for water scarcity are, however, often man-made. We all must act to stop illegal abstractions of groundwater, reduce the pollution of rivers and increase water efficiency.” said Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius. For more information, please click here.
