Meteorological, Agricultural and Hydrological Drought in the Dominican Republic: A review

Abstract

In Dominican Republic, the impacts of the meteorological, agricultural and hydrological drought have been intensified in recent years due to the effect of ENSO and climate change, putting at risk agricultural and livestock production, in addition to food insecurity in several areas of the country, mainly those with less water availability. It's estimated that 69.6% of the Dominican territory corresponds to arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas and that they are partially or totally affected by desertification and drought. The estimated cost of damage from droughts as a disaster from 1900 to 2011 was US$ 5 million, equivalent to 0.17% of the total costs for disasters in the country.In the period 2014 to 2015, the contribution to the Gross Domestic Productof the agricultural sector was reduced from 10.8% to 5.8% approximately, which increased the credit or indebtedness to the agricultural production in 14.6%, that is, around US$129 million. Montecristi, San Juan, Dajabón and Elias Piña are the most affected areas. Despite the difficulties encountered in the process of collecting data and information, a Digital Library and a Conceptual framework has been created-based on the background analysis-to facilitate future work and to continue understanding the drought.In the country there is a legal framework for prevention, mitigation and response focused on disaster risk management -storms, tropical, cyclones, floods and others-however, there are currently no public policies aimed at managing droughts and the implementation of an early warning system for this hydrological phenomenon. Finally, there is evidence of the investment made in projects linked to drought and plans developed by various institutions that seek to investigate the drought and offer solutions to current problems.

Winter Climate of Northeastern Dominican Republic and Cash Crop Production

“…Climate change studies reveal steady warming but mixed hydrological outcomes: drying trends over the coastal lowlands in coarse-resolution model projections and moistening trends over the windward mountains in fine-resolution hindcasts [8,9]. Of some concern are the multi-year dry spells (1989-1991, 2001-2003, 2014-2015, 2018-2019) that induce water scarcity and lost crop production [10].…”

Indicator-Based Assessment of Drought in Bhilwara District, Rajasthan

“…The deficiency of rainfall is always responsible for the initiation of a drought. Assessing a drought scenario based on its impact on water resources availability help to classify it into three main types i.e., meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological drought [6,7].…”