Climate Risk Management and Agriculture in Australia and beyond: Linking Research to Practical Outcomes

In Australia, like in many other parts of the world, climate is one of the biggest risk factors impacting on agricultural systems performance and management. Climate variability (CV) and climate change (CC) contribute to the vulnerability of individuals, businesses, communities, regions and nations. Extreme climate events such as severe droughts, floods or temperature shocks can strongly impede sustainable development. In recent times, climate knowledge has become an important risk management tools for the agricultural sector. Understanding when, where and how to use this tool is a complex and multi-dimensional problem. Targeted and appropriately conceptualised climate knowledge (including seasonal climate forecasting and scenario analyses) can increase overall preparedness and hence reduce vulnerability. The challenge is to use this climate knowledge operationally to achieve two key outcomes: a) appropriate policies suitable for multi-goal objectives and resulting in rapid, substantial societal benefits and b) risk management strategies that reduce vulnerability for individuals and businesses. Policy formulation and the development of risk management strategies must be coordinated and negotiated to be most effective. The Australian work links strongly with international efforts in Asia and South America