Open Access Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 2679–2694, 2013 Natural Hazards www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/13/2679/2013/ doi:10.5194/nhess-13-2679-2013 and Earth System © Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Sciences Direct and indirect economic impacts of drought in the agri-food sector in the Ebro River basin (Spain) M. Gil, A. Garrido, and N. Hernández-Mora CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, c/ Senda del Rey 13, 28040 Madrid, Spain Correspondence to: M. Gil (
[email protected]) Received: 14 December 2012 – Published in Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss.: – Revised: 30 June 2013 – Accepted: 9 July 2013 – Published: 28 October 2013 Abstract. The economic evaluation of drought impacts is es- natural hazards and make impacts difficult to assess (Wilhite, sential in order to define efficient and sustainable manage- 1993). These characteristics require innovative methodolo- ment and mitigation strategies. The aim of this study is to gies to evaluate the economic impact and scope of a drought evaluate the economic impacts of a drought event on the agri- (Wipfler et al., 2009). cultural sector and measure how they are transmitted from Water-dependent activities such as agricultural production, primary production to industrial output and related employ- agri-food industry and agricultural employment are severely ment. We fit econometric models to determine the magnitude impacted by a reduction in water availability. Irrigated agri- of the economic loss attributable to water storage. The direct culture is the main consumptive water user in Spain, using impacts of drought on agricultural productivity are measured up to 90 % of available water resources in the Ebro River through a direct attribution model.