Understanding the cross-scale linkages between drought and food security is vital to developing tools to reduce drought impacts and support decision making. This study reviews how drought hazards transfer to food insecurity through changes in physical processes and socio-environmental systems across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. We propose a multi-scale, integrated framework leveraging modeling advances (e.g. drought and crop monitoring, water-food-energy nexus, decision making) and increased data availability (e.g. satellite remote sensing, food trade) through the lens of the coupled human–natural system to support multidisciplinary approaches and avoid potential policy spillover effects. We discuss current scale-dependent challenges in tackling drought-induced food security whilst minimizing water use conflicts and environmental impacts.

了解干旱与粮食安全之间的跨尺度联系对于开发减少干旱影响和支持决策的工具至关重要。这项研究回顾了干旱危害如何通过在广泛的时空范围内物理过程和社会环境系统的变化而转移到粮食不安全状况。我们提出了一个多尺度，综合的框架，该框架利用建模方面的进步（例如干旱和作物监测，水-食物-能源之间的联系，决策）和通过耦合人类的镜头提高数据可用性（例如卫星遥感，粮食贸易）。支持多学科方法并避免潜在的政策溢出效应的自然系统。