Ethiopia

It takes only sixteen days for the average Canadian to produce as much greenhouse gases as the average Ethiopian will produce over the course of the entire year.  Therefore, January 16th (sixteen days into the year) is "Climate Change Impacts in Eithiopia Day."

Climate change is expected to manifest itself in the frequency and intensity of floods and droughts, as well as in variable temperature and rainfall. If rainfall is more intense and frequent, even more soil will be stripped from farmers’ fields, resulting in the loss of valuable nutrients which will affect crop yield.

Just one extreme climate event—drought, flood, unpredictable rain—can devastate a year’s crop and impoverish a family, nullifying the hard-won gains of several successful past growing seasons. Even relatively small events during the growing season, like too much or too little rain at the wrong times, can spell disaster.” 

For more information on climate change impacts in Ethiopia, continue reading Oxfam International’s report, “The Rain Doesn’t Come Anymore: Poverty, vulnerability, and climate variability in Ethiopia”.