A new Oxfam report, The Rain Doesn’t Come on Time Anymore: Vulnerability, and Climate Variability in Ethiopia, has highlighted how climate change is increasing poverty and vulnerability in Ethiopia.

While Ethiopia has always suffered from great climatic variability, the report details how climate change is set to make the lives of the poorest even harder with small-scale farmers and pastoralists likely to bear the brunt of the negative impacts. Women and girls in particular are disproportionately affected by climate variability, with women tending to say home with their children in times of crisis while men move away for alternative means of survival.

Oxfam has made several recommendations including;

• Prepare and implement a national framework for guiding climate change adaptation and mitigation.
• Ensuring civil society and community participation.
• Investing in livelihood opportunities and risk management strategies for poor farmers and pastoralists, particularly women.
• Increasing use of renewable energy such as solar energy.