Ayanleh Daher Aden
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Research
Social Vulnerability to Episodic Droughts in Ethiopia: The Case-Study of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNP)
Since the 1980s there has been much media interest concerning the severity of drought events in Ethiopia and their devastating effects on food security and population health status. Even though there are over two thousand non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in development and relief in the country, the International Emergency Disasters Database (EM-DAT) record that four of the seven droughts in recent decades (1983, 1987, 1989, 2003 and 2008) affected over 6.5 million people; the 2003 drought was particularly severe affecting 12.6 million. The recovery phase linked to the last event (2008) is still ongoing today. My interest lies in understanding why Ethiopians are still struggling with drought events when the latter is a natural process that strikes that part of the world on a regular basis.
My PhD research will aim to explore the factors involved from an environmental, social and health perspective by singling out and integrating the different intricate elements of social vulnerability to droughts that are in play specifically in the SNNP Region. Although the community-based approach will form the basis of the research, data will be gathered from a wide diversity of sources most of which are expected to be complementary. After careful selection of the relevant variables and proxies through detailed screening and application of rigorous statistical testing, a social vulnerability index is expected to be set up from which the corollaries will then be mapped for informed interpretation and use by local actors (NGOs, United Nation Agencies and government ministries/offices) involved in the region under study.
Since the 1980s there has been much media interest concerning the severity of drought events in Ethiopia and their devastating effects on food security and population health status. Even though there are over two thousand non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in development and relief in the country, the International Emergency Disasters Database (EM-DAT) record that four of the seven droughts in recent decades (1983, 1987, 1989, 2003 and 2008) affected over 6.5 million people; the 2003 drought was particularly severe affecting 12.6 million. The recovery phase linked to the last event (2008) is still ongoing today. My interest lies in understanding why Ethiopians are still struggling with drought events when the latter is a natural process that strikes that part of the world on a regular basis.
My PhD research will aim to explore the factors involved from an environmental, social and health perspective by singling out and integrating the different intricate elements of social vulnerability to droughts that are in play specifically in the SNNP Region. Although the community-based approach will form the basis of the research, data will be gathered from a wide diversity of sources most of which are expected to be complementary. After careful selection of the relevant variables and proxies through detailed screening and application of rigorous statistical testing, a social vulnerability index is expected to be set up from which the corollaries will then be mapped for informed interpretation and use by local actors (NGOs, United Nation Agencies and government ministries/offices) involved in the region under study.
Supervisors
Biography
Ayanleh was born in France but didn’t like it there so at 5 days old he decided to move to Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti in Africa. Growing up, he spent his high school years in 6 different schools in 4 different countries (Djibouti, England, Canada and Kenya) ultimately graduating in 2005 with a French Baccalaureate (High Honors) from Lycee Francais Denis-Diderot, Nairobi, Kenya. He then graduated with a B.Sc. degree in Environmental Sciences (Major: Ecological Determinants of Population Health) from McGill University in 2008. During his penultimate year, he was selected to participate in a 4 month-long Panama Field Study Semester organized jointly by McGill University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). As an intern at the Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC), his undergraduate dissertation looked at past variations (with ArcGIS, ArcMap) in a set of climatic variables in order to predict the potential future foci endemic with the vector-borne disease malaria in the Republic of Panama.
Ayanleh then completed his M.Sc. in Environmental Health and Occupational Health (Major: Environment, Health and Disaster Management) from the University of Montreal (Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Medicine) in 2009. As part of his studies, he undertook a 2nd research project at CATHALAC looking at social vulnerability related to natural disasters with a focus on floods in the North-Western part of the Republic of Panama. During his internship, he was selected to participate in the 3rd Regional Training Course in GIS and Remote Sensing for Disaster Risk Management (GRSDM-3) in Bangkok, Thailand sponsored by the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), the Geo-informatics Center in the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT-GIC) and the United Nations University (UNU).
Ayanleh then completed his M.Sc. in Environmental Health and Occupational Health (Major: Environment, Health and Disaster Management) from the University of Montreal (Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Medicine) in 2009. As part of his studies, he undertook a 2nd research project at CATHALAC looking at social vulnerability related to natural disasters with a focus on floods in the North-Western part of the Republic of Panama. During his internship, he was selected to participate in the 3rd Regional Training Course in GIS and Remote Sensing for Disaster Risk Management (GRSDM-3) in Bangkok, Thailand sponsored by the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), the Geo-informatics Center in the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT-GIC) and the United Nations University (UNU).
Conferences, seminars and workshops
• October 2009: “The Republic of Panama and Natural Disasters: a preliminary analysis of social vulnerability to floods” (Main Speaker) – Project realized in the context of an Independent Research in association with University of Montreal and CATHALAC – Panama, Republic of Panama.
• May 2009: Organization and facilitation of the presentation “SERVIR: GIS and Natural Disasters” (Main Speaker) at 3rd Regional Training Course on Use of GIS and Remote Sensing in Disaster Risk Management in Bangkok – Thailand. ITC/ADPC/AIT-GIC/UNU/CATHALAC
• October 2008: Organized and facilitated the 12th National Congress of Science and Technology at the Centre of Conventions in the City of Knowledge in Panama – Panama. APANAC/SENACYT/STRI/CAHTALAC
• April 2008: “Possible effects of Climate change on the Position of Future endemic areas with Malaria in Panama” (Main Speaker) at final Symposium Conference (PFSS 2008) – Panama. McGill/STRI/CATHALAC
• April 2008: Organization and facilitation of Workshop on “Modeling of Biodiversity Vulnerability to Climate Change” for regional experts. The author made a lecture on “Possible effects of Climate change on Population Health” – Panama. CATHALAC
• May 2009: Organization and facilitation of the presentation “SERVIR: GIS and Natural Disasters” (Main Speaker) at 3rd Regional Training Course on Use of GIS and Remote Sensing in Disaster Risk Management in Bangkok – Thailand. ITC/ADPC/AIT-GIC/UNU/CATHALAC
• October 2008: Organized and facilitated the 12th National Congress of Science and Technology at the Centre of Conventions in the City of Knowledge in Panama – Panama. APANAC/SENACYT/STRI/CAHTALAC
• April 2008: “Possible effects of Climate change on the Position of Future endemic areas with Malaria in Panama” (Main Speaker) at final Symposium Conference (PFSS 2008) – Panama. McGill/STRI/CATHALAC
• April 2008: Organization and facilitation of Workshop on “Modeling of Biodiversity Vulnerability to Climate Change” for regional experts. The author made a lecture on “Possible effects of Climate change on Population Health” – Panama. CATHALAC
Dissertations
• A. DAHER ADEN: “The Republic of Panama and Natural Disasters: a preliminary analysis of social vulnerability to floods” – Project realized in the context of an Independent Research in association with University of Montreal and CATHALAC – Panama, 2009.
• A. DAHER ADEN: "An analysis and prediction of the possible impacts of climate change on the future distribution of the vector-borne disease Malaria in Panama” – Project realized in the context of an Internship in association with McGill University and STRI/CATHALAC – Panama, 2008.
• A. DAHER ADEN: "An analysis and prediction of the possible impacts of climate change on the future distribution of the vector-borne disease Malaria in Panama” – Project realized in the context of an Internship in association with McGill University and STRI/CATHALAC – Panama, 2008.
