Climate extremes are increasing globally. Our objective is to connect climate signals (e.g. altera), water management approaches, and human responses to assess the different components of the socio-economic and environmental drought risks (accounting for hazard, exposure and vulnerability), to finally improve drought resilience.

California, and many other agricultural regions in the world, face important water challenges. Transitioning to sustainable groundwater use, restoring freshwater ecosystems, and the impacts of climate extremes are expected to reduce water availability for agriculture. As a result, farmland might need to transition to other uses, with important effects on food production, energy needs, and land use. Understanding how all these systems interact, and the potential trade-offs, is essential for developing smart transition pathways.

Our research group specializes in integrating the human dimension in socio-environmental systems. Specifically, we employ hydro-economic models and agricultural production models to assess the socio-economic consequences of water allocation policies and infrastructure investments.

We use data science approaches to understand and analyze environmental problems. In today’s world, data is widely available, and statistical and machine learning approaches help synthesizing many problems. We also focus on developing open-code approaches for economic analysis. 

The objective of this project is to refine the sector-specific drought hazard indicators for four sectors (cities, small communities, agriculture and the environment) and all hydrologic regions in California, with the objective of linking drought hazard indicators with impacts. The project, that will build upon the results of the completed project “Linking Indicators of Drought Hazard to Multi-Sectoral Impacts: An Application to California”, will complete the statewide data gathering to refine and apply the framework to obtain multi-sectoral drought hazard indicators for all sectors and hydrologic regions in California, while defining relevant sectoral impacts that will orient the definition of the hazard indicators.

Our long-term goal is to evaluate and enable water trading for climate resilience in agricultural and ecological systems in the Southwestern US. We will engage in research, extension and education activities to achieve the following supporting objectives: 1) improve access to information on current water use and future climate conditions; 2) improve and integrate water and environmental measurements to inform management decisions; 3) evaluate novel water management strategies to buffer against drought conditions; 4) examine and understand potential barriers and benefits of water trading markets for system flexibility while ensuring equitable solutions; 5) work with growers, irrigation districts, and ecosystem managers to adopt and adapt climate resilience strategies; and 6) train a next generation of transdisciplinary practitioners versed in climate adaptation science and complex systems problem solving.