Today, there is strong evidence and understanding that climate change is happening and it is recognized as being one of the greatest challenges of our time. Ethiopia is one of the most vulnerable countries experiencing drought and floods as a result of climate variability and change. According to the IGAD-ICPAC (2007) report, the mean annual temperature across the country is projected to increase between 0.9 and 1.1 °C by the year 2030. As a result of such climatic changes, frequency and intensity of drought is likely to increasingly present a serious threat to the rural farming communities.
Several studies indicate that climate change have great negative impacts on poor farm households as their livelihoods depend on subsistence agriculture highly exposed to climate variability and change. In spite of poverty, farmers have lived for years in harsh environments managing climate variability, and have accumulated experiences and indigenous knowledge that can help us learn more about adaptation to global warming.
This research, therefore, seeks to analyze how farmers perceive climate change and the extent of adaptation they make in response to this change. It looks at how farmers perceive long-term changes in temperature and rainfall over the last 20 years; the adaptation strategies farmers practice in response to these long term changes in temperature and rainfall; the major determinants to make adjustments to the changing climate; and different types of farming and/or pastoral livelihoods induced as a result of climate change in the study areas.
