Disasters cost agriculture €3.6 trillion over 30 years
A UN agency report says the frequency of natural disasters has quadrupled since the 1970s
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00:00 For the first time, there's an estimate of the impact of disasters on global agriculture.
00:06 Over the last 30 years, 3.6 trillion euros worth of crops and livestock production has been lost.
00:12 That's according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
00:16 Droughts are responsible for almost half of the costs,
00:19 but floods, storms, pests, health crises and wars are also having an increasing impact.
00:25 Disasters are producing unprecedented levels of damage and loss in agriculture around the world.
00:30 Their increasing severity and frequency from 100 per year in 1970s
00:34 to around 400 events per year in the past 20 years
00:38 affect the agri-food systems across multiple dimensions,
00:41 comprising food security and undermining the sustainability of the agricultural sector.
00:46 Asia is the most affected continent, but globally the average loss is 116 billion euros per year,
00:53 5% of the world's annual agricultural gross domestic product.
00:58 The FAO reports an increase from around 100 disasters per year in the 1970s to 400 in recent years.
01:05 Their impact is expected to worsen with climate change,
01:08 exacerbating existing social and environmental vulnerabilities.
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