Recent drought and precipitation tendencies in Ethiopia

Viste, Ellen; Korecha, Diriba; Sorteberg, Asgeir

doi:10.1007/s00704-012-0746-3

Cited by 379 publications

(342 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Long-rain declines have been confirmed by many recent studies Liebmann et al, 2014;Lyon and DeWitt, 2012;Viste et al, 2012), and corroborated by analyses of normalized difference vegetation index imagery (Pricope et al, 2013) and satellite-observed soil moisture (Omondi et al, 2013 Nicholson (2014b). The source of the SST forcing behind these recent East African rainfall declines, however, continues to be a matter of considerable debate.…”

Section: Climate Change and Pacific Decadal Variability (Pdv)mentioning

confidence: 74%

Predicting East African spring droughts using Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature indices

Funk

Hoell

Shukla

et al. 2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

112

108

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Abstract. In eastern East Africa (the southern Ethiopia, eastern Kenya and southern Somalia region), poor boreal spring (long wet season) rains in 1999, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011 contributed to severe food insecurity and high levels of malnutrition. Predicting rainfall deficits in this region on seasonal and decadal time frames can help decision makers implement disaster risk reduction measures while guiding climate-smart adaptation and agricultural development. Building on recent research that links more frequent East African droughts to a stronger Walker circulation, resulting from warming in the Indo-Pacific warm pool and an increased east-to-west sea surface temperature (SST) gradient in the western Pacific, we show that the two dominant modes of East African boreal spring rainfall variability are tied to SST fluctuations in the western central Pacific and central Indian Ocean, respectively. Variations in these two rainfall modes can thus be predicted using two SST indicesthe western Pacific gradient (WPG) and central Indian Ocean index (CIO), with our statistical forecasts exhibiting reasonable cross-validated skill (r cv ≈ 0.6). In contrast, the current generation of coupled forecast models show no skill during the long rains. Our SST indices also appear to capture most of the major recent drought events such as 2000, 2009 and 2011. Predictions based on these simple indices can be used to support regional forecasting efforts and land surface data assimilations to help inform early warning and guide climate outlooks.

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Section: Climate Change and Pacific Decadal Variability (Pdv)mentioning

confidence: 74%

Predicting East African spring droughts using Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature indices

Funk

Hoell

Shukla

et al. 2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

112

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Belg rain is also crucial for pasture. Most big droughts in Ethiopia are associated with dry Belg (Viste et al 2012). …”

Section: Study Areas: Raya Azebo and Kobo Districtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A gender approach to understanding the differentiated impact of barriers to adaptation: responses to climate change in rural Ethiopia

Mersha

Laerhoven

2016

Reg Environ Change

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While adaptation has received a fair amount of attention in the climate change debate, barriers to adaptation are the focus of a more specific, recent discussion. In this discussion, such barriers are generally treated as having a uniform, negative impact on all actors. However, we argue that the precise nature and impact of such barriers on different actors has so far been largely overlooked. Our study of two drought-prone communities in rural Ethiopia sets out to examine how female-and male-headed households adapt to climate change, particularly focusing on how a variety of barriers influence the choice of adaptation measures to varying extents. To this purpose, we built a conceptual framework based on the Sustainable Livelihood Approach. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with male-and female-headed households, community leaders and local extension workers. Our findings suggest that gender-based differences in the choice of adaptation measures at the household level are driven by cultural, social, financial and institutional barriers. Barriers to adaptation-particularly when interacting-have a differentiated impact upon different actors. This outcome hints at the need for donors and policymakers to develop intervention strategies that are sensitive to this fact.

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“…Irrespective of the determinants of this variability, seasonal rainfall fluctuations notoriously and frequently lead to drought conditions in the region (Hastenrath et al 2007;Rojas et al 2011;Viste et al 2013) thereby affecting large numbers of households that predominantly depend on sufficient rainfall for sustaining their livelihoods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early assessment of seasonal forage availability for mitigating the impact of drought on East African pastoralists

Vrieling

Meroni

Mude

et al. 2016

Remote Sensing of Environment

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Recent drought and precipitation tendencies in Ethiopia

Cited by 379 publications

References 45 publications

Predicting East African spring droughts using Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature indices

Predicting East African spring droughts using Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature indices

A gender approach to understanding the differentiated impact of barriers to adaptation: responses to climate change in rural Ethiopia

Early assessment of seasonal forage availability for mitigating the impact of drought on East African pastoralists

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