The challenge
Costing a range of economic impacts
Drought impacts are far-reaching, with direct and indirect impacts on individuals, communities, industries and the nation.
In order to measure the economic costs of Australian droughts over time, we need to account for this broad range of impacts including costs to health and the environment.
Our response
Understanding the cost gaps
We are building greater knowledge and understanding of droughts' economic impacts and how we can measure improvements in reducing these over time.
In 2023, we outlined an extensive scientific review on drought economics in The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
In this paper, we present a framework to identify research gaps and approaches that could be used to better understand the range of drought costs, such as the economic implications of health-related impacts.
We are using this as a baseline to explore what data sources could be used to assess future drought's economic impacts and are the basis for measuring improvements.
The results
More targeted drought strategies
A better understanding of drought costs is helping us identify strategies and ensure they address the most significant costs to Australia.