Anthropogenic droughts are expected to exacerbate water inequalities in postcolonial cities

Abstract There are growing concerns about the impacts of climate change on equitable urban development. As cities are becoming increasingly exposed to anthropogenic droughts, stakes are particularly high in contexts of severe vulnerability. Yet, the impacts of future urban droughts and the societal responses they will elicit remain poorly understood. Here we develop social-environmental scenarios of anthropogenic drought-related impacts in postcolonial cities, characterized by highly uneven development and differentiated levels of vulnerability. We show how unprecedented droughts are expected to polarize existing inequalities in water access and well-being across genders, race and socio-economic groups. Specifically, unprecedented droughts will likely exacerbate spatial inequalities, generate localized public health crises, and regress development progress in water access. These results suggest that effective climate policies must address water insecurity and other pre-existing inequalities, and develop equitable water conservation measures to ensure effective adaptation to future unprecedented extreme droughts.