Review on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Mechanisms in Ethiopia

Abstract

Climate  change  is  the  burning  issue  of  the  current  world because  it  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  most  serious  threats  to sustainable  development,  with  adverse  impacts  expected  on  the environment,  human  health,  food  security,  economic  activity,  natural resources and physical infrastructure. Climate change, biodiversity and forest loss are issues inextricably interlinked and need to be addressed simultaneously. Climate is the fundamental factor that determines different stages of the organism life-cycle, such as plant germination and flowering. Causes for vulnerability of Ethiopia to climate variability and change include very high dependence on rain fed agriculture which is very sensitive to climate variability and change, under-development of water resources, low health service coverage, high population growth rate, low economic development level, low adaptive capacity, inadequate road infrastructure in drought prone areas, weak institutions, lack of awareness, etc. The  objective  of  this paper is  to  examine  the  social, economic and environmental impacts of climate change based on their degree of existence  and trends the impacts, to identify the adaptation strategies  and  mitigation  measures  and  to  find  out  the  challenges  to the adoption of those coping mechanisms. The effects of the changing climate are imposing impacts upon the  social,  economic  and  environmental  conditions  of  the human beings by  affecting  their  livelihoods  causing  poor  living, housing,  and health conditions, by reducing the number at the same time of the production of livestock. Traditional and contemporary coping mechanisms to climate variability and extreme in Ethiopia include changes in cropping and planting practices, reduction of consumption levels, collection of wild foods, use of inter-household transfers and loans, increased petty commodity production, temporary and permanent migration in search of employment, grain storage, sale of assets such as livestock and agricultural tools, mortgaging of land, credit from merchants and money lenders, use of early warning system, food appeal/aid, etc.

Keywords: climate change, coping mechanism, and impacts of climate change