Backup and recovery procedures protect databases from data loss by allowing reconstruction of data through media recovery operations if loss occurs. A backup is a copy of important database files and data that acts as a safeguard against unexpected data loss or errors, enabling reconstruction using the backup if the original data is lost. Backups can be physical, copying database files, or logical, extracting data for storage in binary files. Oracle provides two main methods for backup and recovery: Recovery Manager (RMAN) and user-managed backup and recovery.