Mitigating Droughts and Floods in Agriculture
Policy Lessons and Approaches
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather
events, notably of droughts and floods to which the agriculture sector is particularly
exposed. While agricultural productivity growth and policy development have allowed
to better cope with these risks and reduce overall impacts on the sector and commodity
markets, there is substantial room to improve policy responses and co-ordinate across
policy domains, including with respect to water rights and allocation, weather and
hydrological information, innovation and education, and insurance and compensation
schemes. Indeed, drought and flood risks are likely to become a major policy concern
as increasing population will increase the demand for food, feed, fibre, and energy,
not to mention the competition for water resources, and urbanisation will increase
the demand for flood protection and mitigation, raising the issue of the allocation
of flood risks across sectors and areas.
Published on January 18, 2016Also available in: French
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