-
-
The agriculture sector is particularly exposed to risks of floods and droughts, which may become more frequent and severe due to climate change in a context of increased demand for food and urban space. In the course of the 20th century, agricultural productivity growth and policy development have allowed to better cope with these risks and reduce their overall impact on the economy and the agricultural sector itself. They nevertheless remain an important issue in many countries, causing substantial costs to the sector and, in some cases, impacts on commodity markets.
-
This chapter provides an overview of the meteorological, hydrological and socio-economic dimensions of drought and flood risks. It describes the approaches to characterise and assess these risks, and to measure their costs to agriculture and other sectors. It serves as a background for the economic and policy analysis developed in subsequent chapters.
-
-
This chapter reviews and analyses policy approaches that foster efficient, resilient and sustainable management of droughts and floods in agriculture. These include water risk mitigation policies in the short- and long-term. It also reviews compensation and insurance policies, and provides elements of comparison between policy approaches of five OECD countries: Australia, Canada, France, Spain and the United Kingdom.