FAO.org

Agriculture is a source of livelihood for over 35 percent of the world’s population. Natural hazards and disasters – such as floods, drought, storms, earthquakes, landsides, tsunamis or wildfire – disproportionately affect the small-scale farmers, herders, fishers and forest dependent communities who generate over half of the world’s agricultural production.

Between 2004 and 2013, agriculture absorbed more than 22 percent of total damage and losses caused by natural disasters in developing countries. Vulnerability increases with each event, reversing improvements to food security, poverty reduction and agricultural development. As a result of climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, intense and costly. Risk-sensitive agriculture is a prerequisite for food security and sustainable development.

It is imperative for international aid funding to prioritize the reduction and proactive management of risks, rather than reacting to events. However, investment in disaster risk reduction is extremely low: receiving less than 5 percent of humanitarian funding on average per year and around 0.4 percent of official development aid in 2010 and 2011.

Under the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015, considerable progress was made to strengthen overall policies, raise awareness and improve coordination capacities for disaster risk reduction. However, concrete local actions are yet to be delivered at scale. With the Post-2015 Framework launched in Sendai, countries commit to fully embed risk reduction within their development agendas and to enhance delivery of local actions, including through agriculture (crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry sectors).