Page Content
Climate change and risk to agriculture
Australia has one of the most variable climates on Earth. This has always posed a risk to the nation’s agricultural industries but current and predicted changes to underlying climatic trends, such as rising temperatures, create new and additional risks. This will be felt as shifts in patterns of variability, and in more frequent and more severe extreme events.
A risk management framework is essential to handle the risks caused by climate change. In the past, the common approach to risk management analysed how climate changes could impact on a particular crop or industry, with resulting scenarios for the flow-on of social and economic effects.
The new risk management approach looks at climate adaptation and considers how climate, along with variety of factors such as technological development, family and social values and management practices, will pose risks to the farm business enterprise.
This approach provides a sound framework for identifying, analysing, evaluating and dealing with the challenges and opportunities associated with climate change.
BRS held a series of workshops Farming profitably in changing climates in 2004 and 2005. The workshops identified major climate change risks to stakeholders and the factors influencing their capacity to adapt to and manage risk.
BRS is continuing to build on the networks developed in these workshops.