Ethiopia Making Huge Strides in Protecting Env’t, Says UK Met Office Scientific Manager

Addis Ababa, May 21, 2026 — Ethiopia is making huge strides in protecting the environment, a positive move to address many of the impacts of climate change, according to, Stefan Lines, Scientific Manager in Climate at the UK Met Office.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, the Scientific Manager said, “It is really fantastic to see that Ethiopia is making huge strides in protecting the environment, which is so linked to the climate that we are experiencing now.”

He noted that climate change is a global issue, as every single country on the planet will be impacted in some way.

It is really critical for all stakeholders to start taking steps to be able to adapt to these increasing extremes, experiencing day to day and in the future, Lines stated.

In this respect, the Scientific Manager commended Ethiopia for undertaking positive actions to be able to address many of the impacts that the world is witnessing from climate change day-to-day.

Ethiopia, through its Green Legacy initiative, has planted over 48 billion trees since 2019.

Launched by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the initiative is fostering ecological restoration, strengthening food security, and enhancing biodiversity.   

For Lines, climate-smart agriculture is also very important, as agriculture is so sensitive to the weather and climate.

So, he stressed the need to integrate a lot of data to be able to start making smart decisions about when and what to plant as well as harvest.

Even though experiencing a hostile climate, there are still really positive actions that can be taken when it comes to agriculture to help people adapt to those situations, the Scientific Manager elaborated.

“Smart agriculture allows us to start looking at actions that we can take despite challenging climatic conditions, to help people stay safe and thrive,” he asserted.

Lines said that he believes that building collaborations and partnerships with institutions, climate information producers, and also users from across the continent and beyond is essential.

Working together very closely is pivotal to use the best data that is available in order to produce the most accurate forecast, the Scientific Manager said, adding that it is also critical to communicate that information to people so that they use it for better decision making.