Context

Ethiopia is the most populous country in the Horn of Africa with a population of over 90 million people. Among the poorest in the world (173th place on 187 countries - UNDP Human Development Index), its population growth rate is 2,1% per year. 39% of the population lives in extremely indigent conditions surviving with less than one and a half dollars per day.

Furthermore, Ethiopia is also one of the countries most affected by climate change, which has been causing recurring droughts and food crises since 2002 (1 million people affected). Climate has impacts on arable land and cropping patterns, pest and disease frequency and on the distribution and timing of rainfall. In several areas, especially largely pastoralist states such as Somali and Afar, temperature has effects on livestock’s annual growth, milk and wool production and on reproduction as well as i indirectly by changes in the quantity and quality of pasture, forage and grass, diseases and parasites.

Climate impacts land, contributing to its erosion, desertification as well as the drying up of many water sources. This all means lack of energy (trees cutting) and poor access to safe water (used only for consumption), causing an increase in resource competition and their further use and deterioration, creating a vicious cycle in which climate change is exacerbated instead of adapted to.