MODEL FOR SORTING MUNICIPALITIES BASED ON THE CRITICALITY OF ASSISTANCE FOR COMBATING DROUGHT

Abstract

Vulnerable regions to drought require resource allocation to develop projects to combat low rainfall negative impacts. In this perspective, this study proposes a multicriteria sorting model to categorize municipalities affected by drought in order to allocate resources according to criticality. The proposed model is based on the FlowSort method for sorting municipalities into highly critical, moderately critical, and slightly critical levels to cope with drought. The model was applied in the Apodi-Mossoró river basin in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, for sorting 14 municipalities. The findings revealed that the public administration could effectively focus its resources on municipalities experiencing more severe drought conditions. Thus, the public administration can develop strategies, public policies, and actions in coping with extreme difficulty.