Introduction

This is the second special issue of Water Policy produced for the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel (HELP) on water-related disasters. It focuses on drought policies. In 2015 the first special issue of Water Policy (volume 17, issue s1) focused primarily on flood policies. During 2016 HELP members solicited case studies on drought disaster policies. Cases were also solicited from the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the World Water Council members. After reviews, these 12 contributions comprise this special issue of Water Policy.

The special issue begins with ‘Drought aspects – fostering resilience through insurance’ by Kron, Schlüter-Mayr, and Steuer of the Geo Risks Research at Munich Reinsurance Company (Kron et al., 2016). They review definitions of droughts and describe their views on the appropriate role of insurance. Like other articles they note the difference between reactive and proactive approaches to...