Managing Food Insecurity in Ethiopia

1. Managing Food Insecurity in Ethiopia CLIMATE RISK MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE By Teshome Erkineh, Ethiopia For The Side Event at COP12 10th November 2006 Nairobi, Kenya

2. Topic of Discussion I Country profile II Climate change and its effect on food security III Factors for success to avert major famine in 2002/03 (Practical experience) IV Current Response Strategies to Manage Food Insecurity V Gaps and constraints in the use of climate information VI Conclusion VII Recommendation

3. Topography: Complex feature with Altitude ranges from a hight of 4620 mt. Above see level at mount Ras Dashen to as low as 110 mt. Below see level in the Dalol depression A wide range of agro-ecology zones mainly: Environment: diversified climate due to the above complex topographical feature with different patterns of rainfall distribution and temperature at different time of the year Economy:dependant on agriculture and it is Major source of food and income Food Security Situation Food security is dependant on rain fed agriculture 45% of the population is food insecure An average of about 15 million are chronically food insecure An average of 6.3 million people are under food emergency between 1990-2004 consequently An annual of about 670,000 mt. Food aid was required at the same period I- Country Profile

4. II_ Climate Change and its Effect on Food Security • Rainfall variability is very high and its pattern is very complex • Disaster is mostly due to drought resulting wide spread crop failure • Recurrent drought resulted famine and alarming level of malnutrition a) Major droughts years and their consequence during the last four decades

5. b) Major Factors for the deaths of people and existing opportunities

7. III_ Factors for Success to Avert Major Famine in 2002/03 Compared to Previous Years (Practical Experience) • Climate information mainstreamed in disaster management and development • Multi-sectoral emergency response mechanism strengthened • Efficient and effective partnership established with all humanitarian partners • Timely and frequent situation monitoring and information sharing mechanisms established

8. a) Climate Information Mainstreamed in Disaster Management and Development • The capacity of National Meteorological Agency (NMSA) responsible for climate information improved • The Agency disseminate seasonal, monthly, 10 daily and three days and daily climate information to its users • Various communication medias such as radio, TV, newspapers, weather bulletins and workshop used • Climate information become one major component of the National Early Warning System and NMSA become one active member of the National Early Warning Committee • The system regularly evaluate the impacts of the agency's seasonal forecasts and other climate information on food security and advise the relevant institutions to take the necessary risk reduction activities • The National Early Warning System’s information on the other hand linked to the disaster management structure and become one of the most important tool for disaster management and response

9. b) Multi-sectoral emergency response mechanism strengthened National Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Committee • Top decision making body in any matter of disaster prevention, management and response • Chaired by the D. P. Minister and Minister of MoARD • Consists of various ministers as a member Responsible for day to day operational matters Chaired by DPPA D/ director Consists of members from MoARD, MoH, MoWD, DPPA & EWS Crisis Management Group • Responsible for sectoral disaster management and response activity • Each of them chaired by the respective ministry • Humanitarian partners are members in their area of interest Four sectoral Taskforces (Health, Water, Agriculture & Food)

10. c) Efficient and effective partnership established with all humanitarian partners • An Early Warning Working Group, a group that consists of all organization (UN Organization representatives, Donors & NGO’s) jointly closely monitor situations, conduct assessments, identify needs and feed information to the disaster management system. • The crises Management Group meet on a biweekly bases and work close together to avert the crisis • The Technical Taskforces (Health, Water, Agriculture and food) chaired by the respective ministries meets on a weekly base with humanitarian organizations (UN Organization representatives, Donors & NGO’s) and coordinate their efforts and works. • A Technical Information Management Exchange forum which involves all interested humanitarian agencies established and meet on a biweekly bases and discuss on the over all disaster management performance, constraints, bottlenecks and suggests solutions

11. d) Timely and frequent situation monitoring and informationcommunication established 2002/03 Drought Information communication Timeline

12. Timeline cont.

13. Timeline cont

14. IV- Current Response Strategies to Manage Food Insecurity • Until 2004 response to food insecurity (chronic and acute) was mainly dominated by emergency food aid • Response through emergency food aid helps to save lives but not livelihood • The 2002/03 drought and famine became a major turning point to shift from emergency food aid to disaster risk management Current strategy to address food insecurity • Poverty reduction strategy:- Agricultural Development Lead Industrialization (ADLI) • Reduce chronic food insecurity through food security strategy which includes productive safety net, introduction of improved agricultural technology, emphasis on water development and harvesting, resettlement etc. • Acute food insecurity through emergency food aid and weather insurance

15. V_ Major Gaps & Constrains to Effectively Utilize Climate Information • Inadequate coverage of weather stations • Poor capacities of existing stations • Poor communication facilitates to collect timely information from weather stations and to disseminate advisory services to end users • Highly centralized analytical capacity • Lack of users capacity to process, analyze and interpret climate information from various sources • Low level of end users involvement in the use of climate information

16. VI- Conclusion • Drought is a natural phenomenon. It was there in the past, It is still present and it will continue in the future • Drought is not a cause for famine development and human suffering but famine is a failure of human beings to act timely and adequately • Regular flow of climate information and its integration with food security monitoring and early warning is a prerequisite to address climate induced disaster • Early warning information alone cannot be a solution to any drought crises unless it is linked with decision making in disaster management and response. • Usually it is not a failure of EW information that leads to crisis but poor governance, a failure to respond timely and adequate, reluctance to act, the strategy of wait and see

17. VII_ Recommendations • Improve technical capacities of producers so as to increase the quality and credibility of Met. Information • Improve technical capacities of both producers and users • Expand meteorological stations and increase coverage • Strength the capacities of existing Met. Stations • Enhance communication infrastructures and expand the use of electronic media • Establish direct link with end users particularly the farmers and enhance their capacity to use Met. Information • Involve the media effectively in the dissemination of climate and early warning information

18. Thank You!!!