We are about to travel to Ethiopia with Christian Aid to look at how it is helping farmers to adapt to the climate crisis. We shall be flying in to Addis Ababa and then travelling south east to Jinka (see map below). It promises to be a very interesting and inspiring trip.

Ethiopia is the world’s 28th-largest country, comparable in size to Bolivia. The predominant climate type is tropical monsoon, with wide topographic-induced variation. The Ethiopian Highlands cover most of the country and have a climate which is generally considerably cooler than other regions at similar proximity to the Equator. In the area around Jinka the climate is hot and semi-arid.

According to the IMF, Ethiopia was one of the fastest growing economies in the world, registering over 10% economic growth from 2004 through 2009. It was the fastest-growing non-oil-dependent African economy in the years 2007 and 2008. In 2015, the World Bank highlighted that Ethiopia had witnessed rapid economic growth with real domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 10.9% between 2004 and 2014. In spite of fast growth in recent years, GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world, and the economy faces a number of serious structural problems. However, with a focused investment in public infrastructure and industrial parks, Ethiopia’s economy is addressing its structural problems to become a hub for light manufacturing in Africa.

Ethiopia’s total population has grown from 38.1 million in 1983 to 109.5 million in 2018. Currently, the population growth rate is among the top ten countries in the world. The population is forecast to grow to over 210 million by 2060, which would be an increase from 2011 estimates by a factor of about 2.5.

The climate crisis is causing serious problems in the southern regions of the country.