Communicating the hidden: Toward a framework for drought risk communication in maritime climates

This paper explores stakeholder perspectives on the drought discourse in the UK, where climate change is predicted to increase drought risk. This study took a co-productive, mixed-methods approach to investigate drought risk communication issues through repeated engagements with local advisory groups in seven catchments across Britain and a national stakeholder competency group. These data were enriched by in-depth interviews with 17 statutory and non-statutory stakeholders working in a variety of capacities from water supply to habitat management. Codes were divided into contextual factors (cultural or drought specific factors) and individual factors (individual attributes relating to the person receiving the communication or factors within the control of communicators). The paper considers the implications of these contextual and personal factors for approaches to, and the framing of, drought risk communication (DRC). We conclude by proposing a framework for thinking about DRC in maritime climates where drought risk may not be readily perceived by some publics. This framework explores the role of heuristics in risk perception, and proposes a way of conceptualising publics that may more readily engage with DRC. In proposing the framework, we seek to stimulate new ways of thinking about DRC