Environment for Development

Highlights in 2012:

Making Research Policy-Relevant

With the aim of undertaking objective research on current environmental issues by including policy makers in the process of identifying the information and research gaps, EEPFE held a half-day Stakeholders’ meeting to discuss priority research and training needs with representatives from four of the major government-level stakeholders working on environmental issues- the Ministry of Water and Energy, Environmental Protection Authority, Ministry of Agriculture - Natural Resource Directorate and Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority - to discuss priority research and training needs on May 3, 2012. This meeting and need assessment questionnaires later distributed to these organizations were used to frame the research activities of the forum and organize an in-service training for civil servants.

Discussing and Disseminating Research Results

EEPFE has also organized three national workshops to discuss and disseminate research results on current environmental issues. The Workshop on Climate Change and Agriculture in Ethiopia was held on July 9, 2012 and covered topics on weather uncertainty, food security, and adaptation from the perspective of Africa agriculture. The Workshop on Impacts and Profitability of Biofuel in Ethiopia was held on September 14, 2012, to discuss the economy-wide impacts of biofuels on economic growth, food security, external sector, and emissions as well as profitability of the biofuel sector. The Workshop on Community Forests, Climate Change, and REDD+ in Ethiopia held on December 10, 2012, was aimed at giving information necessary for stakeholders to evaluate the project designed on Forest Sector Institutional Reform and REDD+, as well as contributing to international and national policy dialogues on the issue of REDD+, and to obtain feedback from stakeholders.

Promoting the Forum and Policy Interaction

Promoting EEPFE in different platforms has been a resourceful means of increasing awareness of the existence of the forum and hence a way of promoting environmental economics throughout the country. These platforms are an effective means of disseminating resources such as discussion papers and brochures and a great opportunity for networking. With this objective in mind, EEPFE has participated in high level policy conferences and workshops such as the Fourth African Carbon Forum on April 18, 2012through exhibitions and displays. This particularly was a good opportunity as Ethiopia had the chance to host this year’s event at the UNECA. Such platforms marked the existence of great interest from various local and international stakeholders in collaborating with EEPFE due to its close working relations with Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) and other policy-making institutions.

Highlights in 2011:

Aiming High, Going Green

In February 2011, a high-level dialogue was initiated to prepare the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategic paper for Ethiopia. The strategic document aimed in protecting the country from the adverse effects of climate change and building a green economy. EEPFE Center director Dr. Alemu Mekonnen, served as a member of the Technical Committee that worked on the CRGE paper along with 50 other experts from 20 leading government institutions. This strategy was launched on November 18, 2011 in Ethiopia before it was also presented at the 17^th Conference of Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which took place in Durban starting from the 28^th of November 2011.

EfD Workshop on Impact of Climate Change in Africa

In addition EEPFE in collaboration with Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), organized a workshop on climate change on July 20, 2011 to present findings and instigate discussion on this current issue in the context of Ethiopia. Over 60 representatives from various governmental and non-governmental organizations participated in this informative workshop. The Ethiopian Herald, which is the daily-published English newspaper, reported on the workshop. This workshop served as a good opportunity to introduce the forum and offered possibilities for further collaboration work with EEPFE.

Dissemination

The year 2011 marked a year of significant effort in the dissemination work for EEPFE as resources (particularly discussion paper series) were distributed to various research and higher learning institutes in Ethiopia. This effort is in line with the objective of promoting the increment of the number of environmental economists throughout the country by availing resources.  We plan to continue this venture in 2012 and establish the forum’s vision in becoming the leading centre in environmental economics policy research and a focal point for interaction among stakeholders.

Highlights in 2010:

EfD Ethiopia co-organized African Regional Dialogue on forests, governance and climate change

Women’s participation in decision making and strong land tenure rights and governance are essential if REDD+ and other climate change mitigation and adaptation measures are to achieve climate goals and provide local benefits. This was a key message from over 80 delegates at the Africa Regional Dialogue, which was organized by EfD Ethiopia together with Rights and Resources Initiative as a pre-event to the seventh African Development Forum.

Green accounting puts price on Ethiopian soil erosion and deforestation

Ethiopia loses large amounts of money due to deforestation and soil erosion. Recent research shows in monetary terms the value of the country’s natural resources and the costs of soil degradation. It also reveals that official government reports greatly underestimate the contribution of forests and soil resources to the national economy. A way for decision makers to address the problems is to adopt natural resource accounting.

Networking and local language are keys to successful research communication

Networking with non-governmental organizations and use of the local language proved to be crucial for successful communication of Ethiopian research findings. “Thanks to this, our workshop attracted influential experts and policy makers, and their participation was very active,” says Dr Alemu Mekonnen, researcher at the Environmental Economics Policy Forum for Ethiopia (EEPFE) and coordinator of EfD in Ethiopia.

Sustainable Land Management, Forest Policy, and Climate Change Adaptation in Ethiopia

This is an example of how EfD research can influence policies for Sustainable Land Management, Forest Policy, and Climate Change Adaptation in Ethiopia.

"Our policy outreach activities on Sustainable Land Management are already producing impacts. The implementing bodies are using our outputs to design appropriate scaling up mechanisms. The Forest Policy workshop that we organized has managed to create a platform for common understanding on the pros and cons of existing forest policies and design of mechanisms to increase forest cover in the country. The Climate Change workshop has sensitized the policy makers on the potential impacts of climate change and appropriate adaptation mechanisms."