Drought -- National Drought Mitigation Center
Title
Australia’s National Drought Policy Continues to Evolve
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
June 1998
Australia is an arid continent with a high variability
in its annual rainfall. Given the frequency and
severity of droughts and the consequent high financial
and social costs to the nation and to individuals,
and the associated potential for further degradation of
the land, a national policy on drought was clearly
needed.
Australia’s National Drought Policy (NDP) was
ratified by the state and Commonwealth (federal)
governments in 1992 (White, 1993; White et al.,
1993; White and O’Meagher, 1995). Its aims are to:
• encourage primary producers and other sections of
rural Australia to adopt self-reliant approaches to
managing for climatic variability;
• maintain and protect Australia’s agricultural and
environmental resource base during periods of extreme
climate stress; and
• ensure early recovery of agricultural and rural industries,
consistent with long-term sustainable levels.
Further detail on policy evolution in both Australia
and South Africa is described by O’Meagher, et al.
(1998b).
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Published in Drought Network News Vol. 10, No. 2, June 1998. Published by the International Drought Information Center and the National Drought Mitigation Center, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska – Lincoln.