Regional leveling of drought vulnerability in Golestan province

Narges Kefayati*¹- Khalil Ghorbani²- Gholamhossein Abdollahzadeh ³-



1- PhD student of irrigation and drainage, Department of Water Engineering, College Of Water Engineering, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources,Gorgan,Iran. (Corresponding Author)*

2- Associated Professor, Department of Water Engineering, College Of Water Engineering, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resourcesm, Gorgan, Iran.

3- Associated Professor, Department of Agricultural Promotion and Training, Faculty of Agricultural Management, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources



Abstract

Drought is one of the natural phenomena that causes a lot of damage to human life and natural ecosystems. In general, drought is a lack of rainfall compared to normal or what is expected, when it is longer than a season or a period of time and is insufficient to meet the needs. Drought causes damage to the agricultural sector. The vulnerability of the agricultural sector in each region depends on three factors: the degree of drought exposure, the degree of sensitivity to drought and the capacity to adapt to drought. A review of previous studies indicates the diversity of indicators and methods used to assess vulnerability, which indicates the importance of the issue. Institutions responsible for agricultural management can only manage drought properly if they have the appropriate tools to measure the vulnerability of the agricultural sector to drought. Therefore, the first step in drought studies is to identify vulnerable areas and assess the vulnerability of areas. Vulnerability measurement in geographical dimensions and measurement of indicators by main vulnerability components have received less attention. Based on this, the present study has investigated drought vulnerability in Golestan by scientific method and by combining the three mentioned components and has compared the exposure situation, sensitivity level and level of drought adaptation capacity among the cities of Golestan province. Golestan province as one of the important agricultural hubs is highly dependent on the amount of annual rainfall. Due to fluctuations in rainfall and drought in some parts of the province, there have been 4 outbreaks and as a result, 7-12 and 10 days of drought have occurred, which has caused severe damage to the livelihood of farming families. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare drought vulnerability among cities in Golestan province by three components (exposure, sensitivity and adaptation). First, by reviewing the sources, the effective indicators on drought vulnerability are identified separately by the three components and judged by experts (faculty members of water engineering, agriculture and plant breeding, agricultural extension and education, and agricultural economics and experts of water engineers). 55 appropriate indicators in three main dimensions of vulnerability, namely: a) exposure (14 indicators), b) sensitivity (26 indicators) and c) compatibility (17 indicators) were developed and data related to the indicators were collected. The weights of the indices were extracted by Shannon entropy model and by the TOPSIS method the combined index was compiled separately into three vulnerability components. The final result of the combined index was combined with the GIS layers of the cities of Golestan province, and the level of vulnerability of the cities was determined separately for the desired components. The results showed that in terms of exposure to Bandar-e-Gaz, Bandar-e-Turkmen and Aq Qala are in the first to third ranks, respectively, and are exposed to drought. Azadshahr, Galikesh and Bandar-e-Turkmen counties are in the first to third ranks with the highest sensitivity to drought, respectively. The cities of Gomishan, Galikesh and Maravah Tappeh are the most adapted to drought, respectively. Finally, the results of calculating the total vulnerability index showed that the cities of Marwah Tappeh and Bandar-e-Turkmen are the most vulnerable areas to drought in Golestan province. The findings of this study showed that rainy areas can be more exposed to drought at the same time than other areas and there is no direct relationship between rainfall and drought exposure. This confirms the findings of other studies such as Kramker et al. And O'Brien et al. On the other hand, the findings of this study showed that there is no direct relationship between rainfall and vulnerability to drought and the most rainy areas of a region at the same time can be the most vulnerable to drought. This is in line with the findings of Tanzler et al. And Salvati et al. On the relationship between rainfall and drought vulnerability. Due to the fact that the rainy areas of this province are more exposed to drought than other areas and farmers in these areas have shown a higher degree of sensitivity to drought and are more vulnerable to drought than other areas, it is recommended Measures should be taken to reduce the sensitivity and increase the adaptation capacity of farmers in these areas.



Keywords: Drought, Vulnerability, Exposure, Sensitivity, Compatibility, Regional Leveling