Impacts of Natural Disasters in Agriculture, Rangeland and Forestry: an Overview

Natural disasters play a major role in agricultural development and the economic cost associated with all natural disasters has increased 14 fold since the 1950s. Natural disasters are classified into hydro-meteorological and geophysical disasters. Definitions of various types of hydrometeorological disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclones, forest fires, heatwaves were presented. Evidence available from different parts of the world showed that there is a rising trend in the occurrence of natural disasters from 1993 to 2002. Impacts of droughts, cyclones, floods, forest and bush fires on agriculture, rangeland and forestry were described with suitable examples. While the predominant impacts from these disasters are negative, there are some positive impacts as well. Environmental degradation is one of the major factors contributing to the vulnerability of agriculture, forestry and rangelands to natural disasters because it directly magnifies the risk of natural disasters. Some methodological issues concerning the characterization of the impacts of natural disasters in agriculture, rangeland and forestry were described. There is an urgent need to mitigate the effects hydro-meteorological disasters through improved use of climate and weather information and forecasts, early warning systems, and appropriate methods of management of land and natural resources.