Science summary: The drought in Ethiopia, 2015

This summary outlines the 2015 drought in Ethiopia and investigates whether the occurrence and severity of this drought was influenced by human-induced climate change, as well as the potential influence of that year's El Niño.

The observed 2015 drought was an extremely rare event that is expected to happen in the central to north-eastern parts of Ethiopia only about once every few hundred years in the current climate. The story is more complex when it comes to the role of human-induced climate change in the 2015 extreme drought. Overall, the climate models used indicated a wide spread of results regarding the possible influence of climate change. As this range encompasses no change, the drought was not attributed to climate change.

The summary stresses that the lower human impact of this rare but severe drought, compared to those in 1984 and 1973, is a testament to the advances being made in improving the resilience of Ethiopians to climate shock and stresses.