This perspective implies the design and implementation
of long-term measures that protect
catchments, their water resources and the associated
aquatic ecosystems in the expectation that contemporary
droughts as well as prolonged ‘‘megadroughts’’
will be the usual state of our environment
rather than the exception. Rather than regarding
droughts (and floods for that matter) as extreme
events to be responded to when they occur, hydroclimatic
variability should lie at the very core of our
thinking as scientists and managers, and mould our