Countries recognise the urgency of adapting agriculture
Enhancing the resilience of agriculture is a core adaptation priority across OECD countries. All countries have defined objectives for the agricultural sector.
30 countries informed this strategy through a detailed assessment of the impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector and have adopted detailed sector-wide strategies identifying measures to strengthen climate resilience, such as the introduction of subsidy programs that promote water-efficient agricultural practices. However, only half of OECD countries have communicated timebound and measurable objectives, hindering effective progress tracking. In addition, only a third of OECD countries have identified available resources and clarified institutional mandates in their plans, which may hinder implementation.
OECD countries strengthen support for agricultural climate adaptation
By 2023, governments in OECD countries had adopted nearly 400 measures to support climate adaptation in agriculture, around 15% of which were dedicated to research and development. This public support for innovation may partly explain the increasing efforts in the development of adaptation solutions such as water-efficient irrigation systems and climate-resilient crop varieties. Since 1990, the share of adaptation-related agricultural technologies in all agricultural patents, a measure to appreciate efforts towards innovation in climate adaptation, has tripled.
More needs to be done to translate plans into practice
Water use and demand for agricultural production are intensifying. The water footprint of crop production (i.e., the average amount of water needed to produce crops) has increased by 5% over the past two decades. Echoingly, the volume of water withdrawn for irrigation has risen by 10%, despite a limited 1% growth in the cropland area equipped for irrigation over the same period, suggesting a limited adoption of more efficient irrigation technologies and an increasing dependence on irrigation amidst rising water scarcity. Over the last 20 years, half of OECD countries have also experienced a decline in crop diversity, while one-third have observed a reduction in crop suitability to local climatic conditions, further highlighting the sector’s limited progress toward climate resilience.
Explore individual country progress
Select a country to visualise its progress in adapting the agricultural sector over the period 2000-2020 across four dimensions: (1) the exposure of agricultural production to extreme weather events, (2) the adoption of resilient agricultural practices to reduce vulnerability, (3) the impacts of extreme weather events on agricultural production and (4) the conditions enabling agricultural adaptation.
