Abstract:
Ethiopia lies within the tropics but its wide range of altitude produces a
variety of climatic conditions. The total area is 122 190 000 ha and the land
area 110 100 000 ha. Approximately 13 730 000 ha (11 per cent) of the land
area are under cultivation as arable land (13 000 000 ha) or permanent crops
(730 000 ha). Permanent pastures occupy an additional 64 500 000 ha and
forest and woodland 8 860 000 (Table 1). Considerable areas of natural forest
have yielded to encroachment by itinerant nomadic cultivators and some areas
have been extensively commercially exploited.
The altitude ranges from 100 m below sea level near Massawa (Dallol
Depression) to a number of mountain peaks in excess of 4 000 m. This range of
altitude produces temperature conditions reflected in the traditional zonation
of the country, i.e. Dega — the temperate plateaux with its lower boundary at
approximately 2 400 m, with an average annual temperature of about 16 C;
Woina Dega — an intermediate frost-free zone lying between 2 400 m and
1 700 m, with an average annual temperature of about 22° C; and Kolia — the
hot low-lands, with an average annual temperature of at least 26° C.
The main rainy season over most of the country occurs during June, July
and August. Recent climatic events show the extreme vulnerability of
Ethiopia to drought conditions, particularly in the low-lying pastoral areas and
along the eastern rift escarpment. Climate can generally be described,
allowing for significant variations, in terms of well-watered highlands and
uplands mostly receiving 1 000 mm rainfall per annum (with the exception of
Eritrean and Tigrean Plateaux) and dry lowlands with generally less than 500
mm rainfall per annum (with the significant exception of the Baro and Akobo
River plains, in the south-west, which lie in the path of summer rain-bearing
winds).
