Climate change has been threatening pastoral communities in Ethiopia as their economy is mainly based on rain-fed agriculture. The study area is one of the climate change prone area affected by climate induced shocks. To reduce the adverse effects of climate change, pastoral households need to recognize the changes already happening in their climate and employ climate change adaptation measures. Therefore, the present study was conducted in Fentale district, Central Ethiopia to determine the perceived adverse impacts of climate change and variability, the perception of pastoral households on the patterns of climate change and variability, and identify the adaptation/coping strategies of pastoralists to climate change impacts. A household questionnaire survey and focus group discussion were employed to collect primary data at a household level. A total of 130 pastoral households were sampled using random sampling. The data collected from household survey were analyzed using SPSS (version 20). The rainfall and temperature trends of the study area were analysed using Mann–Kendall test. The findings indicated significant decreasing trend of Belg rainfall and increasing trend of Kiremt rainfall for the period 1983–2017. The perception of pastoral households on rainfall and temperature trends was in line with the results of the recorded meteorological data analysis of the present study except the Kiremt rainfall and the long-term annual rainfall trends. The results indicated that pasture and water availability became scarce and livestock assets and productivity were highly reduced, due to adverse impacts of climate change and variability. The most important strategies deployed by the local people included (i) integrating livestock with crop production, (ii) livestock mobility, (iii) livestock diversification and herd composition change, (iv) decreased consumption, (v) remittance, (vi) cash for work and (vii) food aid. Therefore, the government should support and enhance household’s indigenous adaptation strategies through the provision of market access, early warning information, affordable credit access, and development of water points.

中文翻译：

---

埃塞俄比亚奥罗米亚地区芬塔莱区气候变化对牧民影响的认知及其适应/应对策略

气候变化一直威胁着埃塞俄比亚的牧区，因为他们的经济主要依靠雨养农业。研究区是受气候诱发冲击影响的气候变化易发区之一。为了减少气候变化的不利影响，牧民需要认识到他们的气候已经发生的变化，并采取气候变化适应措施。因此，本研究在埃塞俄比亚中部芬塔莱区进行，以确定气候变化和变异的感知不利影响，牧民对气候变化和变异模式的看法，并确定牧民对气候的适应/应对策略变化的影响。采用住户问卷调查和焦点小组讨论来收集住户层面的原始数据。采用随机抽样方式共抽取了 130 户牧民。使用SPSS（第20版）分析从住户调查中收集的数据。研究区的降雨和温度趋势采用 Mann-Kendall 检验进行分析。研究结果表明，1983-2017年期间Belg降雨量呈显着下降趋势，而Kiremt降雨量呈上升趋势。除了基雷姆特降雨和长期年降雨趋势外，牧民对降雨和温度趋势的看法与本研究记录的气象数据分析结果一致。结果表明，由于气候变化和多变性的不利影响，牧场和水资源供应变得稀缺，牲畜资产和生产力大幅下降。当地人民部署的最重要的战略包括 (i) 将牲畜与作物生产结合起来，(ii) 牲畜流动性，(iii) 牲畜多样化和畜群组成变化，(iv) 减少消费，(v) 汇款，(vi) 现金工作和 (vii) 粮食援助。因此，政府应通过提供市场准入、预警信息、负担得起的信贷渠道和开发供水点来支持和加强家庭的本土适应战略。