Agrometeorology in Extreme Events and Natural Disasters

Despite the current technological advancements agriculture as a vital source of livelihood remains essentially dependent on weather and climate and is adversely affected by weather and climate-related extreme events. Over the past few decades extreme events such as droughts floods storms tropical cyclones and forest fires have destroyed economic and social infrastructure and at the same time endangered food security. The agricultural sector is affected through the impact on water resources damage to crops rangelands and forests due to incidence of droughts locust plagues and wildland fires. While natural hazards may not be avoided integration of risk assessment and early warnings with prevention and mitigation measures can prevent them from becoming disasters. Improved forecast accuracy and more focused information on the location intensity and duration of climate extremes could underpin efforts to implement more effective risk management strategies. This book based on state of the art knowledge on the science and application of agricultural meteorology needed to better cope with extreme climate events should be of interest to all organizations and agencies engaged in planning disaster reduction strategies and mitigation of extreme events.