Climate, food security, and growth: Ethiopia’s complex relationship with livestock

In a recent report, New York-based public policy action tank Brighter Green questions whether Ethiopia is not in fact constraining its chances of coping with expected increases in drought and erratic weather as a result of global warming by expanding its livestock population and intensive animal-agriculture sector.

Brighter Green’s research examines whether Ethiopia can industrialize its livestock sector, primarily to serve export markets, without forestalling or derailing development prospects for its people and the 150–170 million Ethiopians expected to be alive in 2050. It also investigates whether such a path is viable when large numbers of Ethiopians already scramble to gain access to good soils, grazing land, and water; food security is a huge national chal lenge; and the effects of climate change are increasingly felt.