25/05/2026
Ethiopia Launches New Climate Resilience Initiative to Expand "Green Legacy" Success and Support Vulnerable Farming Communities.
May 25, 2026
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Ethiopia Launches Ambitious Climate Resilience Project to Scale Up Green Legacy Success. The New GEF-LDCF initiative targets vulnerable farming communities through ecosystem-based adaptation across six districts in Ethiopia."
In a step toward strengthening climate resilience and restoring degraded landscapes, Ethiopian Forestry Development (EFD) sets to officially launch an environmental and climate adaptation project under the Global Environment Facility’s Least Developed Countries Fund (GEF-LDCF).
The project, titled “Scaling up the Green Legacy Initiative Best Practices to Enhance the Climate Resilience of Smallholder Farmers and Vulnerable Groups in Ethiopia,” will be formally unveiled this morning during a high-level national workshop today in Addis Ababa.
The initiative, registered as GEF Project 11416, represents one of Ethiopia’s comprehensive ecosystem-based adaptation efforts. It aims to transform lessons learned from the country’s flagship Green Legacy Initiative into practical climate resilience interventions targeting some of Ethiopia’s most vulnerable agricaltural and forest landscapes landscapes.
Like most climate affected least developed countries, Ethiopia continues to face intensifying climate shocks marked by rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, recurrent floods, and severe land degradation. These environmental pressures are particularly devastating for rural populations that depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture for survival.
Rapid population growth, deforestation, shrinking forest cover, and increasing pressure on natural resources have further weakened the resilience of communities already vulnerable to climate change.
Speaking at the opening of the launching event, Ato Kebede Yimam, who is the director general of the Ethiopian Forestry Development, stated that "this newly launched GEF-LDCF project seeks to interrupt the climate-driven hazards cycle by strengthening ecosystem resilience while simultaneously improving local livelihoods.". H.E. Ato Kebed also added in his speech that, this intervention builds upon the achievements of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative, which has become one of Africa’s most recognized national reforestation and environmental restoration initiatives.
The project’s design places strong emphasis on Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), an internationally recognized approach that uses biodiversity and healthy ecosystems to help communities adapt to climate change impacts. The 5 years initiative have the following four Strategic Components:
1. Strengthening the Policy and Institutional Environment
2. Improving Forest and Agricultural Landscape Management
3. Expanding Nature-Based Livelihoods. And,
4. Knowledge Management and Monitoring
The project will be implemented in six priority woredas (Merti, Wenchi, and Girawa in the Oromia Region; Bati and Argoba in the Amhara Region and Misha in the Central Ethiopia Region). The selected regions are considered as strategically important for climate adaptation and integrated natural resource management.
Another unique feature of this initiative is its Alignment with Ethiopia’s National Development Vision. It aligns with our Ten-Year Development Plan (2021–2030); The Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) Strategy; The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and The national Green Legacy Initiative above all.
In her keynote speech, Dr. Margaret Oduk who is the Head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Liaison Office to Ethiopia; to the African Union (AU) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) stated that "this environmental intervention could become a model for integrating climate adaptation into forest landscape restoration and rural development planning nationwide and beyond." Dr. Margaret also mentioned in her remark that "the project is expected to contribute to long-term economic stability by protecting agricultural productivity, conserving biodiversity, and strengthening the resilience of vulnerable communities against future climate shocks in addition to climate responses."
The initiative is also designeded to have High-Level structure to be coordinated by from federal to district levels to make its governance and coordination smoother. To realize smoother implementation, stakeholders from federal ministries, regional governments, international agencies, research institutions, NGOs, and media organizations were participated in the launching workshop.
As Ethiopia continues to position itself as a continental leader in environmental restoration and climate resilience, the launch this project signals a broader shift toward integrating ecosystem restoration, rural livelihoods, and climate adaptation into a unified national development agenda.
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