Alpine DROught Prediction

Low rainfall and heat waves lead to water scarcity. This has consequences for power generation, water supply, ecosystems, and tourism beyond the Alps. A-DROP addresses this challenge by establishing a multisectoral drought forecasting system. It combines existing drought monitoring tools with new datasets and training measures.

The Alps' climate is increasingly affected by global warming, resulting in changes in climate extremes like droughts. These shifts profoundly impact agricultural and energy production, as well as winter and summer tourism, freshwater supply, and ecosystem services, which all heavily rely on Alpine water. The overall goal of A-DROP is to enhance the Alpine regions’ readiness to cope with droughts and promote sustainable water management. The 11 partners from five AS countries, from research to public administrations, jointly develop and implement comprehensive drought risk management solutions. A-DROP refines and customizes drought monitoring and prediction tools specifically tailored for Alpine regions. These innovations complement the current toolkit of water authorities, laying the groundwork for a unified pan-Alpine prediction system. A-DROP generates high-resolution and consistent climate and hydrological data, drought indices, and impacts, openly accessible and seamlessly integrable with local water management systems. To ensure practical applicability, ADROP tests and validates both the dataset and tools in real-world scenarios through five pilots involving stakeholders from agriculture, hydropower production, tourism, and water governance. In parallel, A-DROP performs regional climate model simulations to estimate climate change effects on droughts, thus informing decision-making processes, facilitating risk reduction and adaptation pathways, and inspiring policymakers and future generations to embrace behavioral change through heightened awareness. To assist the transition process at the policy and operational levels and the out-scaling of successful practices by water authorities and stakeholders, A-DROP offers tailored training sessions and outreach events. Active contribution of actors from macro-regional strategies and observers from public administrations enables the translation of A-DROP into future strategies for water governance.