Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: A Role for Public Policies

Farmers will undertake many adaptation actions to meet changing climate conditions and will often do so without any government intervention. However, when such actions provide both private and public benefits, the public sector may play a role in how these are developed. This report aims to establish a framework to help identify specific actions that governments could take in this respect and that could avoid sending signals leading to non-adaptation or maladaptation. This report begins with a review of national adaptation strategies for the agricultural sector in OECD countries and highlights different approaches undertaken by governments. It then identifies the main criteria under which governments may take action to increase the resilience of the agricultural sector and its adaptive capacity to climate change. Finally, it discusses strategies to monitor and evaluate adaptation policies.