TABLE OF CONTENTS	6
	FOREWORD	8
	CONTRIBUTORS	9
	ABBREVIATIONS	12
	GLOSSARY	13
	INTRODUCTION	14
	CHAPTER 1: LIVING IN THE AUSTRALIAN ENVIRONMENT	18
	1. Introduction	18
	2. The Biophysical Environment	19
	3. The social and political environment	22
	4. Implications for drought policy	24
	CHAPTER 2: CLIMATE AND DROUGHT IN THE SUBTROPICS: THE AUSTRALIAN EXAMPLE	28
	1. Introduction	28
	2. Defining drought	29
	3. The climate of Australia	32
	4. Changing rainfall seasonality	36
	5. Causes of climate variability	36
	6. Aridity and drought in Australia	42
	7. A brief history of Australian drought	42
	8. Climate change and the future	47
	9. Summary and conclusions	49
	CHAPTER 3: INDIGENOUS WATER PHILOSOPHY IN AN UNCERTAIN LAND	50
	1. Introduction	50
	2. ‘TEK’	50
	3. Law	51
	4. Rainmaking	57
	5. Conclusions: philosophy in practice	61
	CHAPTER 4: LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY APPROACHES TO LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY: THE NATIONAL DROUGHT POLICY	64
	1. Introduction	64
	2. Drought as a disaster	64
	3. The 1992 National Drought Policy	66
	4. The 1990s drought	69
	5. Between major droughts 1996-2001	70
	6. The 2001-03 Drought	72
	7. Drought policy challenges and the way forward	73
	8. Concluding remarks	76
	CHAPTER 5: MANAGING RISK?: SOCIAL POLICY RESPONSES IN TIME OF DROUGHT	78
	1. Introduction	78
	2. A political context	79
	3. The problem: when is a drought a crisis?	81
	4. Managing risk through welfare?	82
	5. Conclusions and reflections	95
	CHAPTER 6: DROUGHT, NEWS MEDIA AND POLICY DEBATE	98
	1. Introduction	98
	2. Disaster stories	99
	3. Drought as disaster news	101
	4. The media’s role in framing policy debate	103
	5. How the national print news media cover drought	105
	6. Exceptional circumstances?	109
	CHAPTER 7: AT THE INTERSECTION OF SCIENCE AND POLITICS: DEFINING EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT	112
	1. Introduction	112
	2. The importance of welfare support	113
	3. Science and drought declarations in Australia	113
	4. The political context	118
	5. Resolving the tension between the science and the politics of drought	121
	6. Future options	122
	CHAPTER 8: DROUGHT RISK AS A NEGOTIATED CONSTRUCT	126
	1. Introduction	126
	2. Social constructs of drought risk—what’s so special about drought?	128
	3. Different ways of defining risk	131
	4. Do farmers underestimate the likelihood of drought?	134
	5. Different models of managing risk	137
	6. How does agricultural science deal with risk as a negotiated construct?	138
	CHAPTER 9: PROSPECTS FOR INSURING AGAINST DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA	140
	1. Introduction	140
	2. Markets for risk	141
	3. Multi-peril crop insurance	142
	4. Rainfall insurance	147
	5. Weather derivatives and yield index insurance	148
	6. Prospects for the future	149
	CHAPTER 10: POLICY FOR AGRICULTURAL DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA: AN ECONOMICS PERSPECTIVE	152
	1. Introduction	152
	2. Economic aspects of agricultural drought	152
	3. Public policy responses in Australia	156
	4. Economic assessment	158
	5. Suggestions for policy improvement	166
	CHAPTER 11: DROUGHT POLICY AND PREPAREDNESS: THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT*	170
	1. Introduction	170
	2. Drought policy and preparedness: overview	171
	3. Drought monitoring, early warning, and prediction	173
	4. Risk and impact assessment	175
	5. Mitigation and response	176
	6. Examples of international experience with drought policy and preparedness	179
	7. Global drought preparedness network	187
	8. Conclusion	188
	CHAPTER 12: LESSONS FOR AUSTRALIA AND BEYOND	190
	1. Introduction	190
	2. Tensions within the National Drought Policy	190
	3. Opportunities for lesson drawing and possible future directions	194
	REFERENCES	198
	INDEX	220