Eastern African countries are picking up pace to develop resilience in food systems and agriculture in the wake of increasing risks due to the changing climate conditions. However, climate data is usually fragmented or sometimes not exploited to its full potential. Building on this need, a web-based tool, the Africa Agriculture Adaptation Atlas, is creating fresh opportunities across the region and Africa at large. The AGNES in collaboration with the Alliance of Diversity International and CIAT (ABC), and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) convened a regional stakeholder’s workshop in Addis Ababa to engage in practical exploration of the Africa Agriculture Adaptation Atlas from 2nd to 4th July 2025. The meeting was an opportunity to explore the features of the Atlas, to get user feedback, as well as to think through how data can be utilized more efficiently to facilitate climate adaptation in Eastern Africa. The participants were assorted policymakers, civil society representatives, and the representatives of the private sector from 7 Eastern Africa countries including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
What the Adaptation Atlas Offers
The Adaptation Atlas uses a combination of climate projections, agricultural models, gender-disaggregated data, and economic models to form it’s the nine notebooks. The role of the Atlas is to assist users to explore the risks of climate, evaluate adaptation measures, and as result, facilitating the alignment of decisions with national and local priorities.
Eastern Africa became the second targeted region to be trained and sensitized about the Adaptation Atlas, after Central Africa. In the workshop, participants discussed and interacted with the Atlas notebooks covering climate impacts, heat stress, livestock systems, gender exposure, and economic returns on adaptation investment.
A Practical and Collaborative Learning Space
The workshop was organized in an interactive way and participants were divided into small groups to discuss various functions of the Adaptation Atlas. Along with facilitators, participants went through each notebook, analysed it, exchanged ideas, and reflected on the use of the tool in their own realities as well as linking it to their specific national priorities. This was later followed by a plenary to allow for user-specific feedback about the tool. The plenary discussions highlighted the need for tools like the Atlas, that not only make data accessible but also usable in real-world planning. Furthermore, shared challenges like unpredictable rainfall and rising heat stress are evident across the Eastern African region, reinforced the usefulness of the Adaptation Atlas as it is a common reference point for building coordinated solutions.
How Eastern African users found the Adaptation Atlas useful
The Adaptation Atlas was practical and relevant to users in Eastern Africa at large. According to the participants, the adaptation atlas is of critical value in adaptation planning, policy making, and project design. It helps in climate-informed budgeting and development of strategy at national levels as well as subnational ones. It was also identified as a valid source of decision making, particularly in its role on determining the planting calendars, investment decisions and risk model operations.
Also, its application goes beyond agriculture, it can be used in trade, early warning and economic planning. Some of the notebooks are very handy in the development of climate justifications, heat stress analysis and gender-responsive actions. Most importantly, the Atlas allows more specific adaptation since it offers data about vulnerable groups as well as regions for the user to match interventions with needs on the ground. While participants found the tool revolutionary, they recommended continuous and consistent data updates to enhance its usability and applicability.
Conclusion
The Africa Agriculture Adaptation Atlas meeting in Ethiopia was far more than a technical training. It established room to discuss innovation at the regional level, peer education, and futuristic thinking regarding climate adaptation. This session is a follow up to previous outreach in Central Africa and this precedes the same training in West and Southern Africa. The Atlas is also proving an important tool as adoption efforts spread over the continent. As the climate risks continue to amplify, the necessity of the tools that are viable, participatory, and grounded in realities emerges more than ever.