Abstract
AbstractThe effect of climate change on agricultural-dependent communities is immense. Ethiopia in which more than 85% of its population is agrarian is affected by climate change. Communities in different parts of the country perceived climate change and practice different climate change adaptation strategies. This chapter was initiated to identify adaptation strategy to the impact of changing climate. Data on a total of 180 households were gathered using structured and semi-structured questioners. Focus group discussion and key informant interview were also used for data collection. Climatic data from the nearest meteorological stations of the area were collected and used in this chapter. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The upshot indicated that all the respondent communities experienced at least one of autonomous/self-adaptation strategies to cope and live with the impacts of changing climate. Though 33.6% complained on its accessibility and pricing, 66.4% of the respondents reviled as they do not have any awareness on improved agricultural technologies. The major adaptation strategies identified were collecting and using of edible wild plants and other forest products, hunting, renting/selling of own farm lands, livestock sell, selling of household materials/assets, collecting and selling of wood and wood products and depending on well-off relatives, using drought-resistant crop variety, changing cropping calendar, replanting/sowing, and increasing farmland size. Nevertheless, the communities are not yet fully aware and accessed to policy-driven options for climate change adaptation. Although they used different autonomous adaptation mechanisms, the households are not resilient to the current and perceived climate change. Finally, based on the findings, the recommendation is that besides encouraging the existing community-based adaptation strategies planned adaptation strategies have to be implemented: such as early-warning and preparedness programs have to be effectively implemented in the area, introduction of different drought-resistant locally adapted food crop varieties, and expansion of large-scale investment in the area has to be checked, and give due recognition to forest ecosystem–based adaptation mechanisms of the local community in the area.
Highlights
The focus areas of this chapter, Metekel zone, northwest Ethiopia, scrutinized how the Gumuz communities adapt the adverse effects of climate variability and investigated determinants of the use of identified adaptation strategies/options in the area
Many of the autonomous adaptation responses to the impacts of climate variabilitys/changes include collecting of wild edible plants and other forest products, selling livestock, hunting, renting/selling of farm animals, selling of available household materials and/or equipments, getting support/relay on better-off relatives, and collecting and selling of different wood and wood products (Table 6)
Expansion of farm land, usage of drought-resistance crop varieties, replanting/sowing, and changing of sowing calendar are among reported strategies used in response to the impact of climate variability/change
Summary
The world’s climate has already changed and will change dramatically. Under the no emission scenario, the average global surface temperature is predicted to increase by 2.8 °C during this century (IPCC 2007). As it was reported by one of key informant interviewee at Dangurworeda, and later confirmed by development agents of the surveyed kebeles, during the critical food shortage months the Gumuz farmers have been taking “one quintals of maize to return two quintals of sesame (locally named as Selit), the known cash crops of the area, aftershocks within the same harvesting year,” unless he/she is forced to give a reasonable land of his/her own to the guy so that he/she can plow until return the amount of sesame as promised This is obvious that it affects the capacity of the community to adapt to the current impacts of climate variability or changes, though they use the system to safe their life when the family face a food shortage induced by variation of rainfall.
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