Strengthening drought resilience

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The German-Ethiopian Financial Cooperation project is co-financed by the Federal Government through KfW with up to EUR 15 million. The project area is the Afar region in the Ethiopian lowlands. The pastoralists and agro-pastoralists living in this area had traditionally adapted well to the harsh climatic conditions. However, increasingly frequent and prolonged droughts and exceptional rainfall, combined with increasing pressure from the growing population and changing land use, are leading to a deterioration of the plant cover, overgrazing, increased erosion and the loss of fertile soil. Given these circumstances, the project area is characterized by a high vulnerability to natural disasters and climatic changes (e.g. floods, extreme droughts, locust invasions). In particular, the prevailing traditional system of semi-nomadic livestock farming is coming under pressure. The traditional access of pastoralists to important water and land resources is becoming increasingly difficult, and every drought aggravates the situation of this fragile ecosystem and weakens the livelihoods of the people, who are becoming increasingly vulnerable to food and feed shortages. To counteract these developments, the project is investing in measures to strengthen the drought resilience of the pastoral and agro-pastoral population in the project area. The measures are selected in close cooperation with the people. It is expected that the production system of the pastoralists and agro-pastoralists will be strengthened and their income base will be diversified. The project will thus contribute to better adaptation of the population to climate change and natural disasters and to a more sustainable use of limited natural resources.