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The report is part of a broader study,
the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC), which
has two objectives: (a) to develop a global estimate of
adaptation costs for informing international climate
negotiations; and (b) to help decision makers in developing
countries assess the risks posed by climate change and
design national strategies for adapting to it. This paper is
one of a series of country-level studies, where national
data were disaggregated to more local and sector levels,
helping to understand adaptation from a bottom-up
perspective. Ethiopia is heavily dependent on rainfed
agriculture. Its geographical location and topography in
combination with low adaptive capacity entail a high
vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Historically
the country has been prone to extreme weather variability.
Rainfall is highly erratic, most rain falls with high
intensity, and there is a high degree of variability in both
time and space. Since the early 1980s, the country has
suffered seven major droughts five of which have led to
famines in addition to dozens of local droughts. Major
floods also occurred in different parts of the country in
1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2006. Climate projections
obtained from the GCMs referred to above suggest an increase
in rainfall variability with a rising frequency of both
severe flooding and droughts due to global warming.
