Farmers and pastoralists in Ethiopia have already been hit hard by climate variability, losing harvests and livestock to drought, watching floods destroy vital infrastructure, and struggling to grow staple crops amid changing rainfall patterns. The impacts of climate hazards and change occur alongside other trends, for example, population growth, land degradation or increased opportunities for commercialisation. This means that efforts to tackle climate hazards, variability and change in Ethiopia must be aligned with development plans.

This report, From local to national: Supporting local government action in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and development planning, summarises learning from the research and capacity-building activities conducted by the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) in three sites in Ethiopia in 2010-11. It explains why adaptation planning matters; why community participation is vital; examines key areas where planning and decision-making could be improved. Based on these findings, the brief makes priority recommendations for action. This research was conducted by Haramaya University and Federal officials from Ministry of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Authority took part in validation, alongside colleagues from various Wereda and Regional bureaus in Oromiya, Afar and Amhara Regional States.

The project, Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA): Helping policy-makers understand rural adaptation, is a two-year DFID-funded programme that focuses on a high priority research area: adaptive capacity in rural livelihoods. It is a consortium that works to increase governments’ and development actors’ use of evidence in designing and implementing humanitarian and development interventions to increase poor and vulnerable communities’ adaptive capacity.

Further reading:

Project homepage:
Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA): Helping policy-makers understand rural adaptation

Project summary:
Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA): Helping policy-makers understand rural adaptation

Policy briefs:
Climate trends in Ethiopia: Summary of ACCRA research in three sites
Development interventions and adaptive capacity in rural Ethiopia
The national picture: climate trends in Uganda

Research papers:
Preparing for the future? understanding the influence of development interventions on adaptive capacity at local level in Ethiopia
Preparing for the future in Uganda: understanding the influence of development interventions on adaptive capacity at the local level