The impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the livelihood of

fishing community in reft valley lakes, Ethiopia

Climate change is one of the world's current issues. It affects almost all countries in the
world. One of the most incidence that caused by climate change is irregular rainfall
distribution in developing countries. Ethiopia, as one of members of less developed
countries is susceptible for climate change. Hence most of the farmers and pastoralists of
our country depend on rainfall and irregular nature of rain cause massive damage on lives
of these community members of the population.

The emerging problem related to climate change on fisher community is multi type on its
nature and the mitigating mechanism is very challenging for the whole community in
general and fishers in particular. Due to this, the life style of fishers in the study area is
becoming unstable and feels uncomfortable about thinking the future. The result on
informal survey undertaken on production potentials of lakes in rift valley indicates that
year to year the amount of fish that can be caught per each effort become deteriorated.
This result indicates that fishers, traders and other stalk holders who actively involved in
area of fish are thinking of switching their life style in to other sector. The survey also
tried to observe the knowledge of fishing community member about the reason why the
amount of fish that caught per effort is decreased and most of them are less aware about
climate change.

5.3.1.1. Objectives.

 To assess the Impact of climate change on the life style of people who live in
nearby water bodies like lakes and to recommend means of intervention

5.3.1.2. Methodology

The study will assess the impact of climate change on the life style of people near water
bodies as well as outside the fishing community who have direct link with the fishing
community like restaurant owners, local and outside inhabitants and exporters who use
fish as an input for their business activities. The study plans to use structured
questionnaire for collecting primary information from different stake holders mentioned
above. Among the basic issues that will address during the survey period, the following
will be basic:

How much production has changed over the years?

Has the variety of fish in the catch changed?

Does the number of people who are involved in fishing activities have changed?

What is the response of the community about climate change?

What about economic loss and gain of the community due to climate change?

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 What about the response of consumer and trader of fish inline with the climate
change?

What will be the intervention mechanism to overcome the problem?

etc

The interviewees are randomly selected from the community and raw data will be coded
in the computer and analyzed by using SPSS.

5.3.1.3. Location: some Rift Valley Lakes, and lake Tana,

5.3.1.4. Duration: 2004-2006

5.3.1.5. Work plan

Activities Fiscal Year

2004 2005 2006
Preparing questionnaire *
Training enumerators * * *
Data collection * ** *
Data analyzing * *
Writing research report * * *
Final writing * *

5.3.1.7. Expected output

 Economic influence of Climate change on people who live in rift valley

lakes will be identified
 Identifying major socioeconomic crises of climate change

5.3.1.8. Responsibilities:

Centers: NFALRC, BDFRC

Persons: Abebe Chefo, Tarekegn Arage, Getenet Workye

6. Budget by code

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7. Milestone of the project

Deliverables Dates
(Month,Year)
Water balance of lakes June 2007
Pollution level and type of pollutants of the water bodies December ,2005
water quality maps for representative river sections April,2005
Recommendations and guidelines for sustainable utilization of the June,2005
water bodies
Biological assessment methods suitable for the country June, 2006
performance of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment June, 2006
economic feasibility of constructed wetlands December, 2007
Economic influence of Climate change on people who live in rift June 2006
valley lakes
Identification major socioeconomic crises of climate change June 2006

8. Institutional arrangements

Ethiopian Agricultural research Institute (EIAR)- NFALRC

Regional Agricultural Research centers- BDFRC, ZFRC

9. Beneficiaries and Impact

Beneficiaries: Fishers, local and outside inhabitants, traders, restaurant owners and other
stake holders who are actively involved in fish Production and marketing.

Possible Impacts: Users of the water bodies for house hold consumption, agricultural
activities and fish production can have information for proper care and use of the water
body especially females and children and if necessary to report to responsible
government body for proper action.

The output of the project will be very important for the proper utilization, conservation
and management of aquatic ecosystems in a changing climate. It also puts direction for
policy makers about mitigating its negative impact on water bodies in the area. It also
gives direction for policy makers the possible future impacts of climate change on the
whole agricultural system of the country in general and for the lake environment in
particular.

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10. Project duration: 2004-2007

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