Abstract
The northeastern semi-arid region represents a strategic case in the context of climate change. Although the occurrence of droughts is a chronic event in this region, an increase in climate variability is expected, which could generate a series of socio-economic impacts. Increasingly extreme climatic events could jeopardise societies' resources and ability to respond. This scenario highlights the need to implement public policies that take into account the increase in climate variability and promote the capacity to implement public action to adapt to droughts in the semi-arid Northeast in order to minimise, prepare for and recover from their potential effects. Brazil's National Policy on Climate Change (PNMC) also considers more specific instruments that contribute to adapting to climate change, including agriculture. In this context, this chapter proposes a cross-cutting analysis of the different contributions gathered in this book. The text examines various public policy instruments and public action initiatives for adapting agriculture to increased climate variability and, in particular, drought. It proposes a characterisation of these policies and the governance arrangements for collective action and public adaptation instruments.