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The present study was carried out in the Southern Afar region in Ethiopia to assess the vulnerability of pastoral communities to climate change and variability. A household questionnaire survey was employed to collect data at a household level. A total of 250 pastoral households were sampled using stratified random sampling. The results revealed that 28.8% of the pastoral households were highly vulnerable. Most of the households (53.6%) were moderately vulnerable. Only 17.6% of the households were capable of coping even though there would be a high probability of moving from less vulnerable to a moderate or high vulnerability level in the future if no appropriate adaptive measures would be taken by decision-makers. Policies with emphasis on empowerment of women, such as improving their access to and control over resources through a better institutional set-up; improving irrigation facilities and skills; expanding the participation of pastoral households on irrigation farming; creating opportunities for non-farm income; and improving access to credits, markets, health and veterinary services, are expected to enhance pastoralists’ resilience.

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Most rural communities in developing countries, rely heavily on traditional biomass for cooking and lighting. Furthermore, a large area of forest land has been changed to other land-use types like agricultural land is becoming a serious problem in Wondo Genet district. This situation largely contributed to deforestation and forest degradation. Hence, assessing the efficiency of adopting an alternative source of energy was found to be very important. This study was carried out to examine the role of biogas technology in fuelwood saving and carbon emission reduction in Wondo Genet district, southern Ethiopia. The multi-stage sampling procedure was followed to select sample households. A total of 152 households (54 adopters and 98 non-adopters) were involved in the household survey. Moreover, 25 test subjects were taken randomly from both adoption categories to conduct Kitchen Performance Test. Descriptive statistics and independent-sample t-test were used to analyze the data. Results showed that the major fuel sources for domestic use were plantation forest, natural forest, crop residue, and animal dung, accounting 46.71 %, 30.92 %, 15.13 %, and 7.24 %, respectively. Among the 54 sampled biogas plants, 32 (59.26 %) were a digester size of 6 m 3 whereas the remaining 22 (40.74 %) were of 8 m 3 . The annual fuelwood saving potential of the technology was found to be 1423.06 kg with an emission reduction potential of 2.1 tons of CO 2 e per biogas plant annually. Accordingly, all functional biogas plants were estimated to reduce about 91.63 tons of carbon emission annually. Generally, the biogas was found to be a promising technology in combating the pressure on forest resources and mitigating climate change. Therefore, the energy sector of the country should encourage households to adopt biogas plants that have more than 8 m 3 digester size to improve the fuelwood and carbon emission reduction potential.

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Background: Installation of biogas plants has both costs and incomes; installation and maintenance service demand financial costs and reduction of costs for purchasing firewood, kerosene and chemical fertilizers are benefits or incomes. This study investigates the cost-benefit analysis and financial viability related to biogas plant installation in Southern Ethiopia. Method: A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select sample households. A total of 105 adopter households were selected for household survey.Results and conclusion: The installation cost took the largest share of the total cost of installation and was one of the main constraints that hindered installation. Installation increased household income by reducing the costs incurred for buying firewood, kerosene and chemical fertilizers. Relatively, lower plant size was more profitable than larger plant size. Installation under the subsidy scheme was more financially viable at 10 % discount rate than its counterparts. The profitability of lower plant size was more sensitive to changes in the discount rate, the level of expenditure saving and input price than larger plant size, under an assumption and without subsidy. Installation of low cost plants could more attract the engagement of a large number of rural households with low economic capacity. Besides, installation of lower plant sizes could more substantially enhance household income by saving costs incurred for buying firewood, kerosene and chemical fertilizers.

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