Understanding Climate Security Needs in Ethiopia  – CGIAR 14:53

Over the last few years, Ethiopia has grappled with extreme drought, flooding, political instability, and conflict. Engagement on the intersection of the effects of climate change, peace, and human security has never been more critical. This November, the CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security team of the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT went on a scoping mission to Addis Ababa to better understand how different organizations are approaching these connected challenges. What we found was eye-opening. While actors are proactively working towards mitigating different human security issues resulting from climate and environmental change, the community of practice has yet to understand what the key issues are and how to tackle them together.

The Climate Security Landscape

Ethiopia faces multiple climate-related challenges that are increasingly affecting peace and stability across the country. With over 85% of households depending on agriculture, the impacts of irregular rainfall patterns and prolonged droughts are severe. These climate stresses are compounding existing tensions, especially in areas where communities compete for limited resources like water and pasture land.

During our meetings with various stakeholders, we discussed how these challenges are playing out on the ground. In pastoral areas, changing rainfall patterns are forcing communities to alter their traditional migration routes, sometimes leading to conflicts over access to water and grazing lands. In farming regions, failed harvests due to drought are increasing food insecurity and migration, putting additional pressure on already strained resources and social relations.

A Complex Web of Actors

We discovered an intricate web of organizations working on climate security issues in Ethiopia, each approaching the challenge from their unique institutional mandate and perspective. For example, some organizations are focusing on resource management and food/water security, others on conflict prevention, and still others on climate adaptation and resilience. This complexity reflects the multi-faceted nature of climate security and the need for diverse approaches to address it effectively. However, the diversity of approaches is also indicative of a rather fragmented community of practice, where actors do not always speak the same language, agree on key issues, or complement resources and capacity.

The humanitarian sector plays a crucial role, with organizations like the World Food Programme, International Organization for Migration, UN Refugee Agency, International Committee of the Red Cross, Save the Children, and Mercy Corps responding to immediate needs in emergency contexts and building community resilience in the longer-term. These actors often focus on addressing urgent challenges like displacement, food insecurity, and conflicts exacerbated by climate change.

Development organizations bring a longer-term perspective, with UNDP, World Vision, UNEP, CARE International, and Oxfam working on sustainable solutions and capacity building. Their work spans from improving agricultural practices and water management to strengthening local institutions and promoting alternative, more resilient, livelihoods.

Government institutions form another vital pillar, with multiple ministries and departments involved: the Ministry of Planning and Development shapes overall strategy, the Ministry of Peace handles conflict prevention and resolution, while technical departments like Meteorology, Agriculture, and Irrigation and Lowlands focus on specific aspects of climate adaptation and resilience.

The funding landscape is equally diverse, with major donors like USAID, the Dutch Embassy, German Development Cooperation (GiZ), and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) each bringing their own priorities and approaches to supporting climate security initiatives.

However, what became clear through our discussions was that there is limited awareness among organizations about what others are doing in this space. This can lead to duplicated efforts while leaving critical gaps in others.

Key Insights from the Ground

Several important data or evidence gaps emerged from our conversations, highlighting potential entry points for future research. These included:

  1. The need for localized understanding: While national-level climate data exists, there’s a pressing need for more granular, location-specific analysis of how climate changes affect availability and access to resources,  and what impact this has on different communities and their relationships with neighboring groups.
  2. Connection between climate and security: While there’s growing recognition of the climate-security nexus, many organizations noted the lack of comprehensive data that connects climate impacts to specific security outcomes in the Ethiopian context.
  3. Implementation challenges: Despite strong policies and strategies at the national level, stakeholders highlighted difficulties in translating these into effective action on the ground. While data might be available, how to interpret and apply the data is not always clear.

Moving Forward: The Need for Collaboration

Our scoping mission made it clear that while there is no shortage of commitment to addressing climate security challenges in Ethiopia, there is a need for better coordination and shared understanding among stakeholders. This is why the Climate Security team are planning a multi-stakeholder workshop that will bring together key actors from across the climate security landscape.

The workshop aims to:

Building a More Resilient Future

As climate impacts continue to intensify across Ethiopia, the need for coordinated action becomes more urgent. Our scoping mission revealed both the challenges and opportunities in this space. While the climate security landscape might currently be fragmented, there is a clear appetite for more collaborative approaches.

The planned workshop is an important step toward building a more coordinated response to climate security challenges in Ethiopia. By bringing together diverse stakeholders, we hope to move from isolated interventions to more integrated solutions that can better serve vulnerable communities across the country and build more effective responses to the complex challenges at the intersection of climate change and security in Ethiopia.

Authors: Grazia Pacillo, Joyce Takaindisa, and Radhika Singh (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT). Photo Credit: CIAT/GeorginaSmith