Due to the expansion of prohibited grazing and protected forest land led by local governments and/or social changes, the rangeland for livstock kept by local farmers has diminished, and consequently the number of livestock has decreased in the Eastern Zone of the Tigray Region, northern Ethiopia. It can be deduced that the decrease in livestock numbers decreases the nutrient intake of local farmers. The purpose of this paper is to conduct the preliminary study for 1) understanding the current dietary intake and characteristics of the Tigray farmer, and 2) evaluating how current local governmental policy and social changes affect their dietary intake and nutritional status in southern Kilite Awlaelo district in the Eastern Zone of the Tigray Region. Amounts of consumed foods of total 10 Tigray farmers in 3 households were measured using portable scale. Moreover, total other 10 local farmers aged from 49 years to 75 were interviewed to understand dietary intake, number of livestock and amount of milk production, contribution of milk products to dietary intake, and rangeland conditions around 1970. The characteristics of the dietary intake of the surveyed Tigray farmers were that they consumed a large amount of injera (taita) and bread (gogo), mainly with bean dishes (shiro or shumshimo) and chili pepper sauce (silsi), and seldom depended on meat, internal organs, and milk products in their daily meals. It was suggested that the intake of calories, protein, and fat tended to be insufficient in their daily meals, although these nutrients were partially replenished by special meals on the occasion of festivals and religious events. Since the growth of population, the dissemination of education, and the increase of prohibited grazing and protected forest land have caused the decreases in available feed resources, livestock numbers, milk production, and milk intake in Tigray farmers, they have faced malnutrition and other negative impacts on their health. The local government needs to implement a comprehensive policy that considers the subsistence and health of local peoples, rather than simply considering the conservation of the local natural environment.

With climate change-related extreme weather and the spread of dehydrated lands, water shortages have become serious all around the world. In addition, especially in Australia, the prevalence of serious diseases related to diabetes and metabolic syndrome has increased. Therefore, demands for healthcare have risen, and in turn, healthcare initiates an adverse feedback cycle by increasing the environmental impacts of healthcare. Climate change exacerbates heat illness and vector-borne infection, which results in health impacts. The kidneys maintain fluid volume and electrolytes and remove waste products and uremic toxins from the body. Kidney damage due to diabetes and inflammatory disease occasionally progresses to end-stage kidney disease. To save the lives of patients with end-stage kidney disease, dialysis therapy is required with an environmental cost of 10.2 tons of CO₂ equivalent emissions annually per patient and 500 L of water usage just for one therapy session. In Japan, the number of patients undergoing dialysis therapy has been growing, reaching one in 350 people in the general population, indicating that dialysis therapy is not rare nowadays. Globally, the number of patients is expected to increase further. In Australia and the United Kingdom, which are advanced in environmental issues, efforts to promote innovation such as water reuse, solar power-assisted dialysis machine use, and appropriate dialysis methods have been encouraged by “Green Nephrology”. Such green activities are usually focused around medical professionals, but it is desirable to build a system of cooperation that includes environmental scientists, engineers, and drug companies as individuals that support medical care, and local residents and politicians as individuals that receive medical care. Furthermore, it is possible to utilize dialysis drainage containing nitrogen and electrolyte used for dialysis therapy, and this may be realized by the cooperation of researchers involved in arid land agriculture such as cultivation of halophytes. By spreading Green Nephrology not only in Australia and Japan but all over the world, it is thought that the environmental load of medical care will be reduced, which in turn will contribute to the maintenance of health.