Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa with a highly diverse climate due to its varied landscapes (rainforests in the south and southwest and deserts in the east, northeast, and southeast lowlands) (CCE Country Profile). It exhibits a high variability in precipitation between areas of high and low elevation (GIZ, 2021). Its average temperature has increased by an average of 1°C since the 1960s (World Bank, 2021) and air temperature is expected to increase between 1.6-3.7°C relative to pre-industrial levels by 2080 (GIZ, 2021). 

Ethiopia has one of the fastest growing and poorest (rGDP pc USD570 in 2018) populations in the world (GIZ, 2021). 73% of the population is engaged in the agricultural sector and is reliant on subsistence-based and rain-fed agriculture for food security and livelihoods (ibid.). These factors exacerbate vulnerability to the high degree of risk from hydrometeorological hazards and disasters (World Bank, 2021) Ethiopia is subject to, along with climate change-driven threats including declining water availability, reduced food security, and increased frequency and severity of droughts and floods. Tensions between agricultural, livestock, and human population demands for water are expected to increase in the coming years as seasonal rainfall becomes more variable (World Bank, 2021). 

Ethiopia is focusing on projects to improve crop and livestock production practices in an attempt to increase food security and farmer income as well as to increase its watershed capacity fourfold by 2030 (from 2018 baseline) (Nationally Determined Contribution 2021).