Climate change profile: Ethiopia

The Netherlands designed climate change profiles to help integrate climate actions into development cooperation policies and activities. The profiles aim to give insight in climate change effects and impacts; the policies, priorities and commitments of the countries concerned; and key climate-relevant activities that are financed with international assistance.

This profile indicates that climate change poses a huge challenge to Ethiopia and its people as it faces increasingly unpredictable rains, and in some years the complete failure of seasonal rains. Ethiopia is a country with large differences across its regions, which is reflected in the country’s climate vulnerability. The lowlands are vulnerable to increased temperatures and prolonged droughts that may affect livestock rearing. The highlands may suffer from more intense and irregular rainfall, leading to erosion, which together with higher temperatures may result in lower agricultural production. This, combined with an increasing population and conflict, may lead to greater food insecurity in some areas. Climate change related hotspots of increased food insecurity in the future are likely to include areas in Afar and Tigray, southern Oromia, the central Rift Valley, and the eastern lowlands.