Untold story of Ethiopia’s endeavor in combating climate change
According to environmental experts, climate change is a shift in weather conditions with a global effect expected to last decades or centuries. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines it as a change of climate that has been attributed directly or indirectly to human activities, altering the composition of the global atmosphere. The occurrence of frequent climate change will pose an incredible challenge to our planet Earth and humanity. Nowadays, climate change has become a real threat at the international level posing an imminent danger that challenges the very survival of human beings.
Since the 1980s, the world has been experiencing extreme weather, frequent and severe heat waves, desertification, flooding, the melting of arctic snow, losses of biodiversity, land degradation, the reduction of productivity and other many challenges due to climate change. In this regard, developed countries, especially those in the Western Hemisphere, have contributed the lion’s share by polluting the environment through greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industries. Africa has contributed the least toward current global warming and carbon emissions despite having been affected and suffering the most.
The Horn of Africa is an important geostrategic area on the global map. Countries in this part of the world have been hit by climate change-induced problems for the past five decades. The challenges are manifested by major environmental disasters such as desertification, loss of biodiversity, recurrent drought, flooding, land degradation and insect infestation. This global environmental problem has resulted in severe food and water insecurity and the rise of new variants and pandemic diseases. In this regard, the Horn region has also experienced a prolonged drought due to the failure of rain for three consecutive production seasons, exposing millions of people to chronic food shortage, suffering and displacement. The drought also affected the survival of livestock which culminated in the death of millions of cattle in just three years.
Ethiopia is at the center of the Horn of Africa countries and has been hugely affected by the impact of climate change such as recurrent drought, desertification and environmental degradation. Cognizant of the danger posed by climate change in the region in general and Ethiopia in particular, the reformist leader of Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, launched a national program of planting trees known as the Green Legacy Initiative in 2019. The initiative is an ambitious program embarking on planting billions of tree seedlings across the country aimed at building the green economy in Ethiopia. In the first year of the initiative, the government of Ethiopia planted over four billion various seedlings and shattered the world record planting over 353 million trees in a single day. For this to be achieved, the government inspired and mobilized a workforce of over 25 million each year throughout the country, fostering a collective sense of responsibility in combating climate change.
Since 2019, the government of Ethiopia continued planting trees every year, mainly during the rainy season from June to September. This summer, Ahmed launched the Green Legacy Initiative for this year, setting a goal to plant 7.5 billion trees of various types. Over the past five years, more than 32.5 billion tree seedlings that adapt to different agroecological zones were planted all over the country. Due to the realization of the Green Initiative, the forest coverage of the country has improved from 17.2% in 2019 to 23.6 % in 2023. In this connection, focus has also been given to indigenous trees such as Olea Africana, Cordia Africana, Hagenia Abyssinica, Cupressus Lusitanica and other many highland, midland and lowland trees. Besides, seedlings like avocado, mango, guava, peach and other tropical and sub-tropical fruits that will contribute to ensuring food security and food self-sufficiency have been given exceptional consideration in the Green Legacy Initiative.
The purpose of the Green Initiative is to address the challenges posed by shocking climate change in Ethiopia and the larger region of the Horn by greening the mountains, gorges, hills and cities of Ethiopia through the concerted efforts of the government of Ethiopia and its people. The Green Legacy program helps to enhance forest coverage, protect land degradation and balance the ecosystem in creating a greener and more sustainable environment for future generations. It also averts the devastating effect of climate change through afforestation and reforestation programs that will greatly boost the reduction of environmental pollution by absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide and other dangerous greenhouse gases that enormously contribute to global warming and depletion of the ozone layer.
To this end, the government of Ethiopia has mobilized people from all walks of life, including the diplomatic community in the country, to fight the effect of climate change tooth and nail, investing over $50 billion in the past five years. On top of that, Ethiopia has also shared 1 billion seedlings with its six neighboring countries as part of regional integration through green diplomacy. On the other hand, by mobilizing the farmers during winter, the government continued to intensify soil and water conservation activities throughout the entire country. In the past five years, many thousand kilometers of soil and water conservation activities have been completed. These include the construction of physical structures such as stone bunds and soil bund terraces, building traditional ditches, gabions, culverts and canal structures throughout the country to restore degraded land, barren mountainous, gorges and hillside lands.
The afforestation, together with the construction of such soil and water conservation structures, on top of protecting soil erosion and land degradation, creates favorable conditions for the water to percolate, reducing flooding and runoff, and recharging the groundwater table that enhances the springs, streams and rivers. Such green legacy initiatives and water shade management in Ethiopia makes a tremendous contribution to normalizing the ecological system, averting desertification and environmental degradation, as well as sustaining the flow of water on transboundary rivers such as the Blue Nile (Abay).
In this connection, it would be advisable for the lower riparian countries of Egypt and Sudan, who have been claiming to have monopolistic control over the Nile River, to join in supporting and funding the Green Initiative for the sake of their own national interest that centers on ensuring the sustainability of water flow. Moreover, the international community, the United Nations and the Conference of the Parties (CoP) must support such an initiative that serves humanity as a common good to motivate other societies and governments to replicate the same program in other parts of the region.
The Green Legacy Initiative, apart from its achievements in improving environmental degradation, will also contribute to the grand objective of uniting the people of Ethiopia toward achieving the goal of the African Green Belt Initiative. Furthermore, the government of Ethiopia is working with full commitment to realizing a zero carbon emission target in 2030, generating its energy from clean sources such as hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, etc. As the main driver of regional integration, Ethiopia connected via an electric grid to Djibouti, Sudan and Kenya, sharing its clean energy and working to connect with Tanzania, South Sudan and Somalia. It has also electrified the Addis Ababa Light Railway and the Ethio-Djibouti Railway as part of building a clean and green economy.