The presentation is designed to let the public know what Ethiopia has undertaken and must undertake to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts. And how the act now, act differently and act together motto should be interpreted at national level. The presentation is a personal reflection on the topic after taking the course organized by World Bank Group on the topic Turn down the heat why a 40c warmer world must be avoided.

1. Act Now; Act Together; Act Differently!
The why? And how?
Cascading the Mottos Of “Acting…” to National Level
For the Case of Ethiopia
Final Project Submission for the course :Turn Down the
Heat: Why a 4oc Warmer World Must be Avoided
by Daniel Gebeyehu
May 20, 2015
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Background on the Country
• Economically, Ethiopia is one of the world’s fastest-growing
countries.
• It intends to reach middle-income status before 2025.
• It aims to do so by building a green economy.
• Following the conventional development path would result in
a sharp increase in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and
unsustainable use of natural resources.
• To avoid such negative effects, the government has
developed a strategy to build a green economy.

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Background Cont..
• Ethiopia is experiencing the effects of climate change.
• Climate change presents the necessity to switch to a
new, sustainable development model.
• The Government of Ethiopia initiated the Climate-
Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) initiative in 2011:
• To protect the country from the adverse effects of
climate change
• To build a green economy that reduces green house gas
emission

4. 4
Background Cont..
Currently Ethiopia’s contribution to GHG emissions is very low
on a global scale.
• However, the projected environmental impact of
conventional economic development indicates
• On a per capita basis, emissions are set to increase by more
than 50% to 3.0 t CO2e – and will thus exceed the global
target per capita emissions between 1 t and 2 t per capita in
order to limit the negative effects on climate change.
Source: CRGE Strategy Document 2011

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Why Act Now?
• Like much of Africa, Ethiopia has become warmer over
the past century and human induced climate change
will bring further warming over the next century at
unprecedented rates.
• If not checked; climate change will exacerbate many
current environmental risks and introduce others
• Acting now is crucial before options disappear , costs
increase, and impacts become irreversible.
Why?

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Why Act Differently?
• Ever since the effects of climate change started to show up
in the country, a well thought out mitigation and
adaptation plan has not been in place that could prevent
effectively the negative effects of climate change and
variability.
• Moving onto a more sustainable and climate smart
pathway will require a transformational shift in current
economic development practices marked by a major shift
away from conventional approaches.
Why?

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Why Act Together?
• Due to a very low adaptive capacity, and vulnerability;
extreme events have brought severe negative impacts on all
socio-economic sectors across the country.
• The necessity for regional and global partnership and
coordination in combating climate change applies at a
national context too.
• While project based and isolated initiatives can not improve
overall adaptive capacity and mitigation effort.
• Policies and strategies must initiate mainstreaming of
adaptation and mitigation into all sectoral planning in a
more coordinated manner.
Why?

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How?
Commitment: Ethiopia is committed to building a climate-resilient
green economy. This commitment positions her at the forefront, in
both national and global effort.
Starting now than later: As part of the green economy strategy, the
government of Ethiopia has selected four initiatives for fast-track
implementation:
•Exploiting the vast hydropower potential;
•Large-scale promotion of advanced rural cooking technologies;
•Efficiency improvements to the livestock value chain;
•Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (REDD).
How to Act Now?

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How?
• Identifying context-specific factors: Climate Risk, Sensitivity ,and
Adaptive Capacity identification specific to the country, to the
region, and to the rest of the continent must be identified to
respond differently.
• Prioritizing Actions: as evidenced by the impacts of recent
extreme events there is a need to immediately take measure in
building adaptive capacity; for instance adaptation actions are
required now irrespective of a deal on global green house gas
emissions.
• Change in program design: Infrastructure must be built to
withstand new extremes; agricultural productivity and efficiency
of water use must improve to avoid further threatening of
already stressed ecosystem. Source: World Development Report 2010.
How to Act Differently?

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How?
• Promote the Exchange of Knowledge, Technology, and
Information. Sharing the clear scientific view on the current state
of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental
and socio-economic impacts.
• Warning future risks to increase impacting people, crops,
availability of water and livelihoods.
• Mainstreaming: Climate change adaptation and mitigation
measure is neither a one-off intervention nor a stand-alone
activity. There should be an evolution to a more integrated,
multi-level and multi-sector approach in addressing climate
change impacts.
How to Act Together?

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• Current climate variability is already imposing a significant
challenge to Ethiopia by affecting food security, water and
energy supply, poverty reduction and sustainable development
efforts.
• For Ethiopia Acting Now is essential; waiting is unaffordable.
• Acting differently is vital in a changing world and increased
uncertainties in climate features ,in order to enhance adaptive
capacity and decreased emission rates.
• Keeping the key role Ethiopia is playing in Global Climate Change
initiatives in mind, the commitment it has shown to integrate the
concept of climate change in all socio-economic sectrors
indicates the level of national effort in bringing every body into
the fight.
Conclusion