Rural households, Agriculture, and Climate change - why and how farmers (do not) adapt in Ethiopia (RACE)

This project investigates why and how rural households in Ethiopia (do not) adapt through a combination of qualitative, quantitative, and experimental methods, using an integrated watershed management lens.

Global warming has far-reaching consequences for humans, ecosystems, and economies. Households reliant on rain-fed agriculture are particularly vulnerable. Yet, current climate change adaptation among these households remains very limited. Using integrated watershed management and smallholder agriculture in Ethiopia as a case, we uncover what makes households adapt to changes, estimate the relative  importance of climate change in the adaptation of new practices, measure what types of  interventions promote adaptation (across a range of households, including female-headed  households), and diagnose how this can inform effective future adaptation policies. RACE will suggest pathways to enhance rural households' adaptive capacity.