Mukhtar Babayev: “Natural disasters have caused $3 trillion in damage to the global agricultural sector over the past 30 years”

Natural disasters have caused more than $3 trillion in damage to the global agricultural sector over the past 30 years.

This was stated by Mukhtar Babayev, the Presidential Representative on Climate Issues, during the 5th Agribusiness Development Forum held in Baku as part of “Caspian Agro Week.”

According to him, agriculture today is not only an area of economic activity, but also one of the key sectors of strategic importance in terms of food security and economic stability.

“In recent years, the nature of climate and weather events around the world has been changing significantly. While these events previously had a more local and seasonal character, today their scale and impact have increased considerably. Stronger hurricanes, longer droughts, large scale floods, and other extreme weather events are occurring more frequently and affecting wider geographical areas. Climate change is not only increasing the intensity of these events, but is also altering their timing and cycles,” he said.

M. Babayev added that this makes the planning process particularly more complicated in the agricultural sector.

“According to the World Meteorological Organization, the number of weather and climate related natural disasters has increased approximately fivefold over the past 50 years. Floods have now become one of the most widespread and impactful natural disasters. Over the past 30 years, more than 4,700 flood events have been recorded in 168 countries, affecting more than 3.2 billion people. The total economic damage related to these events amounted to $1.3 trillion. According to the assessment of the Food and Agriculture Organization, natural disasters have caused more than $3 trillion in damage to agriculture over the past 30 years. This means average annual losses of more than $100 billion. These facts once again demonstrate that climate risks are no longer only an environmental issue, but also a serious challenge to food security and economic stability. The growing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events create new challenges for early warning systems, complicate agricultural planning, and increase risks for farmers,” he noted.