MaRIUS is part of NERC’s UK Droughts and Water Scarcity Programme.
The Programme aims to deliver evidence to inform adaptation and management decisions before, during and after drought events, and in the context of increasing concerns about water security. It has the following goals:
- Characterise the drivers and nature of droughts and water scarcity.
- Examine the multiple and inter-linked impacts of UK droughts and water scarcity on the environment, agriculture, infrastructure, society and culture and the trade-offs between them.
- Develop methods to support decision making for drought and water scarcity planning and management.
The other projects in this programme include:
- Analysis of historic drought and water scarcity in the UK: a systems-based study of drivers, impacts and their interactions
- Developing a drought narrative resource in a multi-stakeholder decision-making utility for drought risk management
- IMPETUS: IMproving PrEdictions of Drought To inform USer decisions
Another project that MaRIUS will be building upon includes the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC), which is developing a new generation of infrastructure system simulation models and tools to inform the analysis, planning and design of National Infrastructure covering energy, transport, water, waste, and information and communication technologies.