Ethiopian Tree-Ring Laboratory

2. WHY TREE-RING RESEARCH IN ETHIOPIA?

Ethiopia underwent several environmental anomalies for millennia. There is a growing recognition that the climate of Ethiopia is not static and climate anomalies have occurred not only repeatedly but often abruptly in the past. These climatic anomalies had devastating repercussions for water, soil and forest resources resulting in lower agricultural productivity.

Historical accounts indicate that Ethiopia has a very long history of droughts, decline in forest resources, human migration and death due to famine. Recurrent drought events since the 1970s accompanied by wide-scale famine and human migration was not unique and that similar events have occurred at least 321 times during the past 2260 years, i.e., during the period from BC 253 to AD 2001 (Engida Mersha, 2002, Drought in Ethiopia; In Sixth Conference Proceedings, Ethiopian Society of Soil Science, 145-161). Since the network of climate stations is geographically limited and usually only covers a few decades, high-resolution archives of past climate fluctuations are clearly required to detect and assess major climatic changes, and hence determine extent of long-term rainfall variability and extreme drought events. In Ethiopia, the climate sensitivity of several long-lived tree species may offer an opportunity to develop records of climate and human-environmental changes that potentially span several centuries. Such long-term reconstructions of climate patterns can provide critical information for climate prediction that could contribute to develop strategies for a less calamitous future in Ethiopia, and are useful for policy formulation in achieving the strategy of food security and Millennium Development Goal (MDG).