Safe Sowing Windows for Smallholder Farmers in West Africa in the Context of Climate Variability

Climate variability poses great challenges to food security in West Africa, a region heavily dependent on rainfall for farming. Identifying sowing strategies that minimize yield losses for farmers in the region is crucial to securing their livelihood. In this paper, we investigate three sowing strategies to assess their ability to identify safe...

Flash Drought Typologies and Societal Impacts: A Worldwide Review of Occurrence, Nomenclature, and Experiences of Local Populations

Flash droughts, characterized by rapid onset and intensification, are increasingly occurring as a consequence of climate change and rising temperatures. However, existing hydrometeorological definitions fail to encompass the full range of flash droughts, many of which have distinct local physical attributes. Consequently, these events often...

Optimal Sowing Windows under Rainfall Variability in Rainfed Agriculture in West Africa

Climate change is exacerbating adverse impacts of water stress in rainfed agriculture. This paper seeks to identify safe sowing windows for smallholder farmers in the Sudanian region of West Africa (WA). We hypothesize that the traditional focus on the onset of the season to start sowing leads to crop losses in years of high rainfall...

Where should hydrology go? An early-career perspective on the next IAHS Scientific Decade: 2023–2032

This paper shares an early-career perspective on potential themes for the upcoming International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) Scientific Decade (SD). This opinion paper synthesizes six discussion sessions in western Europe identifying three themes that all offer a different perspective on the hydrological threats the world...