Browsing by Author "Sass, Karina Simone"

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    Enhancing drought resilience and vulnerability assessment in small farms: A global expert survey on multidimensional indicators
    (Elsevier, 2024-08) Sass, Karina Simone; Batalini de Macedo, Marina; Benso, Marcos Roberto; Shrimpton, Elisabeth; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Sarmah, Tanaya; Mendiondo, Eduardo Mario; Jesus da Silva, Greicelene; Câmara da Silva, Pedro Gustavo; Nardocci, Adelaide Cassia; Jacobson, Michael
    The purpose of the paper is to evaluate drought vulnerability and resilience within the context of small-scale farms. Small-scale farms are distinguished by their family-oriented motives, which prioritize maintaining the stability of the household farm system. This type of farming is responsible for a significant part of the world's food production, thus identifying their vulnerability and resilience to drought is essential to avoid adverse socioeconomic impacts. The paper contributes to this issue by presenting the findings of a comprehensive global survey conducted among experts on drought risk analysis, focusing on indicators related to drought resilience and vulnerability in small-scale farming. An online questionnaire was sent to experts asking them to rate a list of 36 indicators in terms of five metrics: relevancy, accessibility, objectivity, understanding, and temporal consistency. Each indicator was rated on a three-point scale (low, medium, and high). The survey was entirely completed by 120 experts from 42 countries and different areas of expertise. The survey results offer a comprehensive evaluation of multiple indicators, contributing to future research by guiding the selection of indicators for composite drought resilience indexes and enhancing the understanding of farmers' and food systems' climate resilience. The survey results indicate that: i) government and institutional indicators are very relevant for drought resilience assessment; ii) there is an undefined role for social indicators in drought vulnerability assessment; iii) experts still do not perceive the importance of local engagement in drought risk management; iv) the use of relevant indicators in drought risk assessment can be limited because of a lack of accessibility and temporal consistency.
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    Usability of agricultural drought vulnerability and resilience indicators in planning strategies for small farms: a principal component approach
    (Elsevier, 2025-04-01) Sarmah, Tanaya; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Konak, Abdullah; Shrimpton, Elisabeth; Sass, Karina Simone; De Macedo, Marina Batalini; Mendiondo, Eduardo Mario; Nardocci, Adelaide Cassia; Huo, Da; Jacobson, Michael Gregory
    Water-related stresses and risks of droughts, exacerbated by climate change, have been extensively documented. These studies often rely on various indicators to monitor and forecast the impacts of droughts. However, current literature on the usability of these indicators for modelling drought risk and in decision-making processes is fragmented and lacks a clear, systematic, and methodological approach. Usability, in this context, refers to the relevance, accessibility, clarity, and practicality of indicators for guiding planning strategies. To address this knowledge gap, the Management of Disaster Risk and Societal Resilience (MADIS)1 project aims to collate and assess drought vulnerability and resilience indicators from existing literature to support decision-makers in improving policies related to agricultural droughts on small farms. The MADIS project identified over 100 indicators, from which 36 were selected for further analysis. A global online survey using the Delphi technique was conducted, and the resulting data was used to perform a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Findings revealed that these 36 indicators could be reduced and grouped up to ten principal components, each corresponding to a theme across five categories: relevancy, understanding, accessibility, objectivity, and temporal. This study, therefore, highlights the practical usability of these indicators for developing context-specific and efficient resilience strategies. Indicators related to water management were found to be crucial and applicable across all five categories, as the availability, quality, and source of water are essential for monitoring and mitigating drought hazards. Conversely, indicators related to rural development and demographics, while quantifiable and collected at different temporal scales, were deemed less understandable and accessible by experts. Grouping indicators under common themes reduces the complexity of evaluating similar indicators and aids in selecting the most relevant ones for different contexts. This approach simplifies indicator selection and enables decision-makers to formulate resilience policies more efficiently and comprehensively.