for Climate and Society AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT AND CLIMATE RISK Correct citation:

Exposure to a high degree of climate risk is a characteristic feature of rainfed agriculture in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia. A growing body of evidence links unmitigated hydroclimatic variability to poor economic growth in developing countries. At a more local level, climate exerts a profound influence on the lives of poor rural populations who depend on agriculture for livelihood and sustenance, who are unprotected against climate-related diseases, who lack secure access to water and food, and who are vulnerable to hydrometeorological hazard. Several mechanisms by which climate risk impacts rural households combine with other factors to trap rural populations in chronic poverty. Climate change is expected to intensify many of the challenges facing dryland agriculture in Africa and South Asia, but in ways that can only be partially anticipated. Improved control of water resources is a fundamental method for mitigating the impacts of climat