*The Climate Change-Agriculture Nexus in Drylands of Ethiopia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103905*


**Table 3.**

*Methane emission in Ethiopia's livestock sector.*

#### *The Climate Change-Agriculture Nexus in Drylands of Ethiopia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103905*

The drylands of Ethiopia are characterized by scarce and unreliable rainfall. Due to this, within the context of dryland development, the Federal Constitution of Ethiopia in article 52(2d) provides legal provisions ("to administer land and other natural resources in accordance with Federal laws") which provide a basis for regional governments to take an active role in formulating and implementing appropriate policies and programmes for water development in dryland areas (**Figure 5**). Rainwater harvesting is a centuries old practice by the Ethiopian pastoralists and it has continued to be implemented in the current Government's efforts in soil and water conservation programmes to improve food security ([60], Tolossa *et al.* 2020).

Adoption of improved approaches and good practices to water development can strengthen the contribution of dry lands to national economies, and reduce their drain on resources by enhancing resilience and reducing the need for food and other cash interventions during emergencies brought on by climate extremes such as floods and droughts. Improving water development and management, particularly through ecosystem-based approaches, enhances the productivity and sustainability of soil, water and vegetation resources so as to make dryland agricultural development initiatives as sustainable as possible. This improves the resilience of both human communities and ecosystems to climate change in the drylands [59, 61, 62].

#### **Figure 5.**

*Impact matrix of water development in dry lands (Adapted from [59]) (UL is fragile and unsustainable livelihoods; SL is more secure livelihoods; AE is adverse environmental conditions; and IE is improved environmental conditions).*

#### **3.3 Conservation agriculture**

Conservation agriculture (CA) is a concept for resource-saving agricultural crop production that strives to achieve acceptable profits together with high and sustained production levels while concurrently conserving the environment. CA is based on enhancing natural biological processes above and below the ground. Interventions such as mechanical soil tillage are reduced to an absolute minimum, and the use of external inputs such as agrochemicals and nutrients of mineral or organic origin is applied at an optimum level and in a way and quantity that does not interfere with, or disrupt, the biological processes. CA is characterized by three principles (**Figure 6**) which are linked to each other, namely: continuous minimum mechanical soil disturbance; permanent organic soil cover; and diversified crop rotations in the case of annual crops or plant associations in the case of perennial crops [64–66].

Conventional tillage exposes the soil by deep cultivation and this in turn enhances CO2 emissions from the soil. More than 97% of the world's food supply is produced on land that emits GHGs when intensively tilled, fertilized, and/or grazed by animals [67]. Conversion of 76% of the croplands in the USA, for example, to conservation tillage could sequester as much as 286–468 million metric tonnes (MMTs) CO2e over 30 years showing that conservation agriculture could become a net sink for carbon [68] and play an important mitigation and adaptation role in climate change effects [69, 70].

A global estimate of carbon sequestration from the conversion of conventional tillage to conservation tillage will be as high as 4900 MMT CO2e by 2020. Combining economics of fuel cost reductions and environmental benefits of conversion to conservation tillage are a positive first step for agriculture toward decreasing carbon emissions into the atmosphere [71]. In the same token, it was also calculated that, if 15% of the carbon in crop residues is converted to passive soil organic carbon (SOC), it may lead to a carbon sequestration rate of 200 MMT CO2e yr−1 when it is used with less intensive tillage. A change from conventional tillage to no-tillage has been found to sequester 4300–7100 kg of carbon ha−1yr−1 [72]. A traditional agricultural conservation practice in northern Ethiopia has been found to be effective for in-situ soil and water conservation, reducing runoff on average by 11% and soil loss by 36% [73]. This in turn could reduce GHG emissions from agricultural lands.

**Figure 6.** *The three pillars of conservation agriculture (Source: [63]).*

*The Climate Change-Agriculture Nexus in Drylands of Ethiopia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103905*

Agriculture can contribute to the mitigation of climate change by adopting practices that promote the stashing of CO2 as carbon in soil, crop biomass and trees, and by displacing the use of fossil fuels required for tillage, chemical manufacture, equipment manufacture, and grain handling operations [74–76]. In the Ethiopian case too, agricultural development as business as usual and contributing the largest share of Emission (**Figure 7**), without consideration of climate risks and opportunities, will lead to maladaptive practices weakening national resilience to climate change [78]. This is also emphasized with the Cancún Agreements that developing nations are, for the first time, officially encouraged to develop low-carbon development strategies.

#### **3.4 Vegetation management**

Plants are central in carbon, water and nitrogen cycles thereby necessitating the need for sustainable utilization of these resources with a view to contributing towards reducing the impact of climate change and variability. The ways in which these resources are used and managed, determine the future direction of climate change impacts in drylands [79]. Enhancing awareness on the importance of plant biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods in response to climate change and variability is vital in the fragile dryland ecosystem where there is direct dependence on natural resources for livelihood [80]. Adopting practices of adaptation and mitigation such as proper fire management, improved forest management, reforestation, reducing deforestation and forest degradation will enhance carbon sinks and help to minimize impacts of climate change. In addition to high temperature and changing rainfall patterns, the major threats affecting vegetation resources in drylands are the coping strategies put in place, such as firewood and charcoal sale, by community members during times of drought. These livelihood activities provide households with an alternative income source when livestock and crop production fail. But these activities become unsustainable as droughts become more frequent, leading to substantial deforestation and forest degradation. With expected future climate change and increasing drought risk (**Figure 8**), pressures on vegetation resources are likely to intensify, unless more sustainable alternative sources of fuel and income generating options are provided or put in place. Otherwise, the resulting deforestation and forest degradation will go on to diminish development efforts of local communities and make them vulnerable to climate change shocks [81, 82].

**Figure 7.** *All GHGs emission trend of Ethiopia by sector (Source: [77]).*

**Figure 8.**

*Repercussions of vegetation degradation and drought in drylands of Ethiopia and how to reverse it by managing the resources and use of technology.*
