Security diagrams: Approach for assessing the impacts of extreme climate events

Until recently, climate research has mainly concentrated on the effects of long-term climate change. However, serious socio-economic consequences can also result from extreme climate events, for example drought or flooding.

A new approach to this problem, the security diagram, was developed for the analysis of the consequences of such extreme climate events and will be further developed within the scope of this project. These diagrams can be used for generating geographical maps to portray past and future risks of extreme climate events for particular countries and regions. This research approach combines the concepts of environmental stress, susceptibility and crises, and concentrates on the use of security diagrams to describe seasonal water shortage.