Climate, Peace and Security Study: Somali Region, Ethiopia
Publisher: adelphi
Author(s): Lucas Destrijcker, Milen Yishak, Michael Thomson, Aminata Traore, Yishuang, Antonio Xu, and Hannah Kurnoth
Date: 2023
Topics: Climate Change, Land, Peace and Security Operations, Public Health, Renewable Resources
Countries: Ethiopia
As part of the Weathering Risk initiative, adelphi and the World Food Programme (WFP) set up a learning facility to explore entry points for strengthening climate adaptation and resilience programming in Eastern Africa. Climate change and environmental pressures have severe cascading effects on peace and human security in the region, ranging from climate migration and displacement to food insecurity and conflict over dwindling natural resources. In response, this learning facility aims to inform ways to build more climate-resilient food systems in Eastern Africa as a way to prevent, mitigate and resolve climate-induced conflicts and insecurity. This climate, peace and security study focuses on the Somali Region of Ethiopia as one of the case studies undertaken during the adelphi-WFP learning collaboration. The Somali Region, located in south- eastern Ethiopia and bordering Somalia, was selected because of its particular vulnerability to climate impacts and related risks to peace and human security.
This report, which is based on climate data from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) combined with an extensive literature review, first outlines the relevant contextual factors that shape the Somali Region’s vulnerability to climate change and environmental degradation, and then outlines historic, current and projected climate trends and impacts in the region. Based on the combined analysis of both contextual and climate-related factors, the report presents key climate insecurity pathways, as well as entry points and priorities as guidance for future programming in the region.