Life in the Hot Seat

Climate change has been brought up as an important topic recently, but are countries actually doing something to prevent it? Ethiopia, one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change (All Africa), has decided to take action. The country is trying to prevent its economy from a crisis, but why is climate change the first thing they have decided to fight against when it comes to the economy?

Over 85% of the Ethiopian economy is agriculture-based, which raises the need for water (Taye). However, with Ethiopia going through their second-worst drought in the past two years (U.S. Agency), their economy has been sinking. Without any money, the government won’t be able to implement many changes. This raises the question as to how the government responds to the climate getting hotter and dryer.

The Ethiopian government has been involved with the UN on matters of climate change along with many other countries (All Africa). They have signed the Paris Agreement, which is an agreement between countries that they will be putting effort to reduce their carbon footprints and make sure the average temperature per year decreases. Ethiopia so far has proven themselves to stay true to the agreement, by planting over 350 million trees in a day (Taye). The government also has gotten donations from people, the money of which was used to teach the local farmers on better ways to use their land for planting (Zwick). With these community efforts, the ground’s quality will improve over the years, which will help with the problem of food shortages (U.S. Agency). However, will the efforts overall guarantee major climate betterment?

There are other climate issues that the Ethiopian government doesn’t address as much as it should. As it was previously mentioned, drought is a large problem in Ethiopia, but the government isn’t trying to solve this problem as it’s trying to solve others. Experts on this issue suggest making new water sources from groundwater (Taye). This problem has already been declared a state of emergency (U.S. Agency), so it is important to act on it in any way. The country isn’t compatible with the Paris Agreement as of yet. With the way things are going now, they will manage to keep the average temperature stable, but not lower it.



Ethiopia has many challenges to face when it comes to climate change. With the help of the UN and donations from people, it has already gone this far, and it’ll only get better in the future.




Works Cited:

"Ethiopia Has Commendable Role in Climate Diplomacy, Green Development [editorial]." allAfrica.com, 7 Dec. 2017. Gale In Context: Global Issues, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A517723693/GIC?u=los42754&sid=GIC&xid=40a6095f. Accessed 11 Mar. 2020.

Taye, Meron Teferi, and Ellen Dyer. “Ethiopia's Future Is Tied to Water -- a Vital Yet Threatened Resource in a Changing Climate.” The Conversation, 7 Feb. 2020, theconversation.com/ethiopias-future-is-tied-to-water-a-vital-yet-threatened-resource-in-a-changing-climate-121844.

N.P.“Ethiopia.” Ethiopia | Climate Action Tracker, 19 Sept. 2019, climateactiontracker.org/countries/ethiopia/. This source is an update on the Ethiopian climate in September of 2019.

N.P. “Crisis in Ethiopia - Complex Emergency.” U.S. Agency for International Development, 4 Feb. 2020, www.usaid.gov/crisis/ethiopia.

Zwick, Steve. “How Ethiopia Is Slowing Climate Change By Reviving Its Forests – And Its Economy.” Ecosystem Marketplace, Ecosystem Marketplace, 16 Jan. 2018, www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/articles/how-ethiopia-is-slowing-climate-change-by-reviving-its-forests-and-its-economy/.