PhD Defence Ana Maria Paez Trujillo

The title of her thesis is:
An Optimisation Framework for Planning Drought Management Measures

Projections indicate that drought frequency, severity, and duration will increase globally in the twenty-first century, impacting nearly all societal and environmental dimensions. Therefore, transitioning to drought-resilient societies and ecosystems is urgent. Implementing Preventive Drought Management Measures (PDMMs) is a suitable strategy to mitigate the potential negative impacts of droughts and to respond to droughts more effectively. This dissertation aimed at developing an optimisation framework to identify near-optimal allocation of PDMMs based on a comprehensive understanding of the drivers and characteristics of droughts. The study first assesses the non-linear relationship between climate, basin hydrological processes, and drought severity to determine what causes droughts and identify drought-prone areas at a basin scale. Subsequently, potential interventions suitable for drought management are identified through a review of existing research on strategic drought management, with a specific emphasis on PDMMs. The PDMMs analysis is further advanced using an optimisation approach to create numerous drought management scenarios with multiple PDMMs combinations. The most relevant scenarios are selected, and their impacts on the severity of agricultural and hydrological droughts are evaluated.

Programme: 

17.00 – 17.15              Presentation

17.30 – 19.00              Public defence & Awarding ceremony