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The arid and semi-arid regions account for approximately 30% of the world total area and are inhabited by approximately 20% of the total world population. Issues of present and future climate variability and change on agriculture and forestry in the arid and semi-arid tropics of the world were examined and discussion under each of these issues had been presented separately for Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The 1997–1998 El-Nino caused an extreme drought in the northeastern region with considerable losses for agriculture, livestock, water resources and society. Regionally, the impact of these anomalies can be striking. In the southeastern region, for example, in the State of Sao Paulo in the El Nino period, the effects caused by this phenomenon were quite different with above average rainfall in months like May and June. This situation can be observed, as indicated by the rainfall anomalies represented by the monthly Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for the month of May in 1998 (Figure 17.1). The occurrence of these anomalies lead the State Government to create a task force involving the various sectors of society, such as, research institutes, universities and the civil defense, to propose mitigation measures.