SOS MEDITERRANEE / Jérémie Lusseau
On 9 March 2025, Arham was rescued from a fiberglass boat in the Libyan Search and Rescue Region, along with 24 other people. During the rescue operation, a Libyan Coast Guard vessel was only 10 minutes away from the boat. Upon learning this, Arham said: “10 minutes saved our lives.”
SOS MEDITERRANEE / Stefano Belacchi
Arham is a 24-year-old doctor from Ethiopia. He completed his medical degree and started his work as a doctor for a monthly salary equivalent to 100 Euros. His parents are farmers. Like more than 70% of the population of Ethiopia, the family depends on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods. The country is currently experiencing the worst drought episode in 40 years, and many rural households find it harder to survive on farming alone (International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2025)1. When the rains fail, many people are pushed to move – either within their home country, or across borders:
Droughts have been increasing due to climate change. Many people who live off the land are moving to other countries because they can’t sustain their crops anymore. Either they move to the city to do small jobs like cleaning, or they leave. Some even try their luck in Somalia which is not peaceful at all,
Most climate-related migration within Ethiopia remains internal. In 2023 alone, over 800,000 people were displaced primarily due to drought (IOM 2025). These movements are rarely driven by climate factors alone: environmental pressures often intersect with conflict, poverty, and weak access to services, creating complex reasons why people are forced to move.2
Arham and his brother are the only two out of nine siblings who have university degrees and can help sustain the family. With their parents’ harvests no longer covering even basic food needs, the family relies on the brothers to help financially. Despite all the challenges he faced, Arham brightens when speaking about his work as a doctor.
SOS MEDITERRANEE / Stefano Belacchi
SOS MEDITERRANEE / Stefano Belacchi
In my country, doctors’ efforts are higher than the salary. But the love, respect, happiness of your patients is greater than your salary. Money is nothing without love.
All I hope is to continue to study or to work as a doctor. The few months when I worked as a doctor was the best part of my life because helping patients is the most satisfying thing I can do.
SOS MEDITERRANEE / Stefano Belacchi
SOS MEDITERRANEE / Stefano Belacchi
Some scientists estimate that up to 216 million people could be displaced within their countries by 2050 due to slow-onset climate change if no urgent action is taken to reduce global emissions (IOM 2024)3. Since cross-border migration is most often influenced by a number of factors and can exacerbate existing vulnerabilities, such predictions are difficult to make about people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change across borders globally. The International Organization for Migration underlines that migration can be a form of adaptation to climate change – a way to cope with environmental stress (IOM 2024) – but it is hard to imagine the pressure Arham’s family and his community are under, and the weight of the responsibility on Arham to provide a source of income.
1 International Organization for Migration (IOM) (2025). The Impact of Environmental Drivers and Climate Change on Migration Trends and Protection Needs in Ethiopia. https://publications.IOM.int/books/impact-environmental-drivers-and-climate-change-migration-trends-and-protection-needs-ethiopia
2 Assessing the Evidence: Climate Change and Migration in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and International Organization for Migration (IOM) (2024). https://ethiopia.IOM.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl996/files/documents/2024-11/climate-change-and-migration-in-ethiopia.pdf
3 World Migration Report 2024, International Organization for Migration (IOM), https://publications.IOM.int/books/world-migration-report-2024
