2 ms·
Drought alone cost $10-14B in 2019 and are increasing due to climate change. https://www.resources.org/archives/economic-impacts-drought-us-agriculture/ https:
by dv_dt 6y ago
Drought alone cost $10-14B in 2019 and are increasing due to climate change.
https://www.resources.org/archives/economic-impacts-drought-us-agriculture/ https://www.resources.org/archives/economic-impacts-drought-...
Similar with flooding, and increasing pestilence due to warmer winters.
As the saying goes, past events is no guarantee of future performance.
- ben_w 6y agoOnly $10-14 billion? According to this list, worldwide agricultural output is $2-8 trillion (nominal vs. PPP) so I’d have expected way more drought induced losses even as just seasonal noise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sector_composition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_secto...
- dv_dt 6y agoI was unclear on the scope of those numbers, they were for US ag, so your number is comparing US drought numbers to the entire world output. Comparing an apple to the entire apple orchard. If we wait to take steps until it’s an even larger problem then we lock in decades of yield being curtailed by weather extremes. In your linked data, 2017 US Ag contribution to GDP is $175B, so almost 10% reduction of the entire nations agricultural output from just drought is significant, and expected to rise.