d-iap: Drought Impact Assessment Platform
Worldwide, the increasing frequency and severity of droughts pose a growing threat to water resources, agricultural production, and food security. Although drought monitoring and early-warning systems have significantly advanced, the assessment of drought impacts remains comparatively underdeveloped, despite being essential for strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacity of agro-ecosystems.
To help close this gap, FAO has developed the Drought Impact Assessment Platform (d-iap), a new web-based tool designed to evaluate how drought affects crop and water productivity. d-iap combines advanced crop modeling with comprehensive global datasets and provides actionable insights for major agricultural areas worldwide at a resolution of 9×9 km, covering both rainfed and irrigated systems to deliver robust assessments of drought impacts under both current and future climate scenarios. For rainfed agriculture, d-iap offers indicators such as the probability of yield reduction at different severity levels, associated income losses, and the additional irrigation required to offset drought impacts. For irrigated agriculture, it provides crop-specific net irrigation requirements, crop water productivity, and the probability of meeting crop water needs with a given water allocation.
d-iap is designed to support policymakers, water authorities, agricultural advisory services, and all stakeholders involved in drought risk management. Ultimately, the platform enables farmers and technicians to adjust cultivation practices, modify cropping patterns, and optimize water use, thereby improving the resilience of farming systems. From an economic perspective, anticipating drought impacts is critical for minimizing losses and improving resource allocation. d-iap supports informed decision-making on investments, agricultural insurance schemes, and targeted support measures. Insurance providers can also use the platform’s outputs to design more accurate and effective drought insurance products.
To help close this gap, FAO has developed the Drought Impact Assessment Platform (d-iap), a new web-based tool designed to evaluate how drought affects crop and water productivity. d-iap combines advanced crop modeling with comprehensive global datasets and provides actionable insights for major agricultural areas worldwide at a resolution of 9×9 km, covering both rainfed and irrigated systems to deliver robust assessments of drought impacts under both current and future climate scenarios. For rainfed agriculture, d-iap offers indicators such as the probability of yield reduction at different severity levels, associated income losses, and the additional irrigation required to offset drought impacts. For irrigated agriculture, it provides crop-specific net irrigation requirements, crop water productivity, and the probability of meeting crop water needs with a given water allocation.
d-iap is designed to support policymakers, water authorities, agricultural advisory services, and all stakeholders involved in drought risk management. Ultimately, the platform enables farmers and technicians to adjust cultivation practices, modify cropping patterns, and optimize water use, thereby improving the resilience of farming systems. From an economic perspective, anticipating drought impacts is critical for minimizing losses and improving resource allocation. d-iap supports informed decision-making on investments, agricultural insurance schemes, and targeted support measures. Insurance providers can also use the platform’s outputs to design more accurate and effective drought insurance products.
Finally, the platform’s estimates of irrigation demands and the probability of meeting those demands under different scenarios are particularly valuable for water planners and managers. These insights can guide strategic planning, infrastructure development, and sustainable water resource management, helping safeguard agricultural productivity and strengthen the resilience of communities facing increasing water scarcity.
