R 230728Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1347
INFO IGAD COLLECTIVE
RWANDA COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KAMPALA 000419 
 
 
DEPT FOR OES/IHB FOR DANIEL WILUSZ, INR/EC FOR PHILOP HOPKE 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO EPA B.DOROSKI, J.MITCHELL, J.JETTER, AND J.MOSS 
PLEASE ALSO PASS TO HHS FOR WILLIAM MARTIN AND DENNIS WAGNER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SENV ECON PREL UG
SUBJECT:  4TH PCIA FORUM TACKLES INDOOR AIR POLLUTION 
 
¶1.  (SUMMARY) Two-hundred and fifty experts from 35 countries 
gathered to discuss best practices for reducing exposure to deadly 
smoke from household cooking and heating at the 4th Biennial 
Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA) Forum in Kampala on March 
23-28.  Participants shared methods to design, test, and 
commercialize improved stoves that use less fuel and produce less 
smoke than traditional stove models.  Participants were especially 
excited to learn how to claim carbon credits for greenhouse gas 
reductions from improved-stove projects.  At the end of the 
workshop, the participants collectively pledged to support the 
dissemination of 26 million improved stoves by 2011.  That is an 
ambitious target, but much more needs to be done to reach all three 
billion people who continue to rely on biomass fuels and coal to 
meet their basic energy needs. (END SUMMARY) 
 
¶2.  The Forum was co-sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), the non-governmental organization (NGO) Winrock 
International, and the German development corporation GTZ. 
Participants included representatives from the U.S. Departments of 
State and HHS, various African ministries, the World Bank, the World 
Health Organization, the United Nations High Commission for 
Refugees, and numerous universities and NGOs. 
 
¶3.  Speakers at the opening ceremony highlighted the purpose and 
importance of the gathering.  Reinhard Buchholz, German Ambassador 
to Uganda, said that several of the MDGs will not be achieved 
without addressing the problem of indoor air pollution (IAP).  John 
Hoover, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy to Uganda, 
encouraged the group to set ambitious goals and to turn best 
practices into common practices.  Honorable James Baanabe Isingooma, 
from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in Uganda, 
warned that, at present rate, his country will consume all of its 
biomass fuel by 2025.  Godfrey Ndawula, from the same ministry, said 
the Ugandan Government needs support from PCIA members to achieve 
its goal to distribute four million cookstoves by 2017.  Brenda 
Doroski, PCIA Coordinator at the EPA, described the impressive 
growth of the partnership: from 100 member organizations in 2006 to 
250 in 2008, and from 125 Forum participants in 2007 to 250 in 2009. 
 
 
¶4.  The next five days offered a wide range of technical 
presentations, hands-on demonstrations, field visits, interactive 
discussions, planning meetings, and networking events.  Highlights 
include: 
--- Presentations on stove design research from the EPA, on the 
commercialization of improved stoves from high-volume manufacturers 
in Central America and China, and on the health impacts of cookstove 
projects from Professor Kirk Smith of the University of California 
Berkeley. 
--- Demonstrations on how to monitor indoor air pollution and how to 
conduct standardized tests to measure the wood-burning efficiency of 
stoves; 
--- Field visits to a factory making improved stoves, a school using 
a large institutional improved-stove, and households using 
improved-stoves made by local artisans. 
 
¶5.  Participants at the Forum reported having helped 1.2 million 
households and 12 million people get access to cleaner cooking 
technologies since 2007.  The PCIA Coordinators encouraged 
participants to use ideas discussed at the Forum to improve their 
projects, and to set ambitious goals for future cookstove 
distribution.  By the end of the workshop participants set targets 
to distribute a combined total of over 26 million cookstoves by the 
next Forum in 2011. 
 
¶6.  For additional information, contact Forum attendees Dano Wilusz 
(wiluszdc@state.gov) from the State Department's Bureau of Oceans, 
Environment, and Science, or Philip Hopke (hopkepk@state.gov) from 
the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. 
 
¶7.  (COMMENT)  The burgeoning PCIA membership and growing interest 
in PCIA events indicate that governments and non-governmental 
organizations are increasingly recognizing the problem of IAP, 
deforestation, and the value of the PCIA partnership.  But while 
there were representatives from various African ministries, there 
was a notable absence from participants from ministries of health. 
The Department has and will continue to play an active role in 
engaging governments, including ministries of health, multi-lateral 
organizations, and NGOs to discuss the problem, encourage membership 
in PCIA, and identify opportunities to promote new solutions.  (END 
COMMENT) 
 
 
HOOVER