Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources in Ethiopia

Abstract

The impact of climate change on water resource is a primary concern. The focus of this review was to recognize how climate change affects the water resource of Ethiopia and to identify gaps that can be addressed through research. The result revealed that the peoples living in the country already suffered from the extreme events of climate change, like drought and flood. The nature and magnitude of how global change will affect the Ethiopian water resource is not yet adequately understood. Besides, the studies of climate change impacts on water resources in Ethiopia are concentrated in northern part of the country, based on old climate change emission scenarios and limited number of global climate models (GCM). Making a conclusion based on a single GCM output may not give a clear representation of the future changes, and it is most likely will mislead the decision makers and policy developers. A comprehensive study is highly needed, and the issue has to be addressed at a scale relevant to decision-making based on multiple GCMs under new climate change emission scenarios for better understanding of the potential impacts, informed decision-making, and effectively respond and adapt to projected changes, otherwise the consequences becoming awful.