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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 13 ADDIS ABABA 000297 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E-JWIEGERT,OES/PCI-MGERDIN,OES/STC- 
TBURNS,OES/SAT-FECHAVARRIA,EEB/IFD/OMA-JWINKL ER AND EEB/CBA- 
DWINSTEAD 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID JEFF HUMBER 
 
USTDA KATHRYN DORMINEY 
 
DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC FOR ITA MARIA RIVERO 
 
DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC FOR REBECCA KLEIN 
 
DEPT OF ENERGY FOR TSPERL 
 
E.O. 12958: NA 
 
TAGS: KSCA SENV ENRG ETRD PGOV ECON ET
 
SUBJECT: JANUARY REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT NEWSLETTER, EAST AFRICA 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  001.2 OF 013 
 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Regional Environment Officer (REO) spent much 
 
of January 2010 on the road.  Thanks to Dovie Holland in Madagascar 
 
for a busy 10-day orientation visit complete with informative 
meetings and field visits.  REO and the Regional Environment 
Assistant (REA) also travelled to Cairo to attend a Science and 
Technology Outreach Workshop hosted by the Office of Naval 
Research- 
Global and the Naval Medical Research Unit-3, coming away with an 
expanded database of S&T contacts and partnership ideas.  On the 
margins of the meeting, REO met with Egyptian officials at the 
Ministry of Water who noted an willingness to delay the next 
Nile-COM 
meeting beyond March 2010 if the US and/or donor countries needed 
more time to conduct diplomatic efforts to avert an NBI split. 
After 
a failed "charm campaign," Egyptians may consider the idea of a 
joint 
Ethiopia-Egypt political declaration. 
 
¶2. (U) Back in Ethiopia, the African AU Summit took place January 
31- 
February 2, with Ethiopian Prime Minister praised for his role in 
Copenhagen and he was re-elected to carry-on as the African 
continent's lead negotiator.  Meles proposed the establishment of a 
 
high level panel to monitor development countries' financial 
commitments.  USAID held a Global Climate Change (GCC) and Food 
Security strategy workshop February 1-5 in Nairobi to roll out the 
President's FY 2011 Budget Request.  REO attended the GCC portion, 
with a readout provided in paragraph 13-16.  Ethiopia continues to 
send mixed signals on its geothermal sector while Kenya moves full 
steam ahead.  To view a copy of the REO newsletter online, visit our 
 
intranet site: http://addisababa.state.gov/REO_Newsletter/ 
default.asp?fname=2009. End summary. 
 
----------------------------------- 
EAST AFRICA ALTERNATIVE ENERGY BUZZ 
----------------------------------- 
¶3. (U) Ethiopia-Japanese Geothermal Workshop: Aluto Langano 
Expansion: Regional Environment Specialist (RES) attended a half-day 
 
geothermal workshop in Addis on January 21, 2010. Participants 
included the Energy Minister and the State Energy Minister, the 
Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia and staff, Energy Ministry 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  002.2 OF 013 
 
 
officials, 
representatives of GTZ and the World Bank, and several other GoE 
agencies. The focus of the meeting was a presentation study results 
 
carried out by a Japanese firm, West Japan Engineering Consultants 
(West JEC).  Several speakers were also featured, including the 
Energy Minister, the Japanese Ambassador, a Nairobi-based Japanese 
External Trade Organization (JETRO) official, and representatives 
from the Ethiopia Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), Geological 
Survey of Ethiopia (GSE) and Ethiopian Electric Agency (EEA), the 
regulator. 
 
¶4. (U) According to Ethiopia's Energy Minister Alemayehu, Ethiopia's 
 
installed energy capacity will reach 2000 MW in few months time and 
 
his ministry's objective is to raise that capacity to 10,000 MW in 
the coming years. Alemayehu said that geothermal energy exploration 
 
is at an advanced stage at the Aluto and Tendaho sites. He also 
quoted the country's renewable energy potential to be 60,000 MW, and 
 
expressed his agency's interest in making geothermal energy a 
reliable and clean energy source in the country's planned energy 
mix. 
The Japanese Ambassador complimented the GOE on its overall 
development endeavor (roads, schools, etc., based on observation 
during his travel to various parts of the country) and the 
achievement in the hydro-power sub-sector in particular. The JETRO 
representative expressed his pleasure for having sponsored the 
Aluto- 
Langano expansion study. 
 
¶5. (U) Summarizing the results of the one year study, the West JEC 
representative told the audience that based on analysis of data 
collected over the years and that of their current assessment, the 
Aluto-Langano Geothermal site is both technically and economically 
feasible to be developed.  Aluto is located in an area where cracks 
 
on the earth's crest are spreading. These structures allow the hot 
fluid to travel to the surface where it can be tapped. There is 
heat, 
there is water, and there are fractures; the three important 
elements 
necessary to develop geothermal power. Moreover, manifestations at 
the surface indicate that the water is coming in contact with the 
hot 
rocks. 
 
¶6. (U) According to West JEC, the economically optimal amount of 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  003.2 OF 013 
 
 
power that could be developed sustainably at the Aluto site, based 
on 
the currently available data, is 35 MW. That is in addition to the 
currently running pilot plant of 7 MW, giving a total of 42 MW for 
Aluto.  (Note: GSE at various times has been giving estimates 
ranging 
from 50 to 75 MW for Aluto. End Note.) West JEC also proposed a more 
 
simplified technology from the existing binary (complex technology) 
 
plant for the new 35 MW power plant, which would be built on a 150m 
X 
150 land area. The cost estimate for the new plant was put at 
$198.79 
million with a foreign currency component of 85%. It was also noted 
 
that project costs could be brought down if GSE's two drilling rigs 
 
would be available for drilling. According to West JEC, the next 
steps will include appraisal drilling to complete the half 
constructed production model (note that West JEC could not come up 
with a fully completed production model due to lack of historical 
data on the pressure status of the operational wells) followed by 
design and construction.  According to RES' discussion with the 
Director of GSE, the Japanese have agreed to finance those next step 
 
actions.  The Ethio-Japanese agreement on the Aluto Expansion was 
signed in 2008 and the consultants have been engaged since 2009. 
 
¶7. (U) EEPCO, GSE, and EEA briefed the meeting participants on their 
 
respective plans for the development and management of Ethiopia's 
renewable energy sources. In particular, the EEPCO presenter stated 
 
that the country's current generation capacity is 2100 MW; 
currently, 
3967 towns are electrified; his company has 1.87 million customers 
(with 350,000 customers being added every year); EEPCO operates 
9,000 
Km of transmission lines; and electricity demand is growing at 25% 
per annum.  The EEPCo presenter also cited that currently industry 
is 
the number one power consumer in the country, and by 2015, the 
country's total installed capacity would grow to 6352 MW. To satisfy 
 
the growing demand, EEPCO plans to produce more than 10,000 MW of 
electricity in the next ten years, at a cost of approximately 120 
billion Birr to realize that plan. Regarding financing mechanisms, 
Ethiopia government representatives pointed out that the GoE 
preference is to pursue least-cost financing methods. 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  004.2 OF 013 
 
 
 
--------------- 
ACROSS ETHIOPIA 
--------------- 
¶8. (U) African Union Summit ESTH Highlights: The 14th Ordinary 
Session of African Heads of State and Government was held January 
31- 
February 2 at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, 
Ethiopia 
under the theme "Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in 
 
Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development."  The Summit 
Declaration reinforced a commitment to the "catalyzing role of 
information and communications technology in the development and 
integration process in Africa," adding that ICT is a driving force 
for the overall development of the continent.  The newly elected AU 
 
Chairperson, Malawian President Dr. Bingu Wa Mutherika, stressed the 
 
need to focus on agriculture and food security, stating in his 
closing remarks that "no child in Africa dies of hunger and 
malnutrition anymore." For AU climate change updates, see paragraph 
 
29-30.  For detailed reporting on the full Summit, along with 
readouts of G U/S Otero and AF A/S Carson meetings, see cables from 
 
the bilateral mission and the U.S. Mission to the African Union. 
 
 
¶9. (U) Green Planet LLC Seeks Partners:  Regional Environment 
Assistant (REA) met with a member of the Green Planet Group LLC that 
 
was in Addis Ababa for the African Union Summit.  Green PlanetGroup 
 
LLC has launched a sales effort throughout Africa which seeks to 
bring new solar technologies to the marketplace and assist rural 
communities.  GPG partners with a range of solar technology 
providers 
in the areas of lightening and water purification to provide its 
technology offerings. One such partner is World Water Solar 
Technologies the producer of Mobile Max Pure a solar powered, stand 
 
alone system designed pump, filter and purify water.  The company 
claims the system can provision an average of 30,000 gallons of 
clean 
drinking water each day from lakes, rivers, wells or other water 
sources, with as little as five hours of daily sun exposure and can 
 
be set up in less than half an hour.  The system can filter both 
fresh and salt water. GPG and its lightening partners donated a 150 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  005.2 OF 013 
 
 
 
solar lights to Haiti relief efforts. The current goal of the GPG is 
 
to sell lighting and water systems to local communities through 
federal governments assistance.  The estimated cost of the fresh 
water purification system is $120,000 and salt water is $150,000. 
 
------------- 
WATER MATTERS 
------------- 
¶10. (U) Nile Basin Initiative, Countdown to Nile-COM:  NBI 
negotiations have stalled over the issue of water security; 
downstream riparians (Egypt and Sudan) want protection of current 
uses and rights; upstream nations want to abrogate existing 
agreements.  A split between upstream and downstream countries looms 
 
on the horizon, with upstream nations expressing a willingness to 
approve the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) at the next Nile 
Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) meeting tentatively scheduled for 
March 2010, even if that means moving forward without Egypt and 
Sudan. 
 
¶11. (SBU) U.S. Embassy Cairo officer Todd Watkins and REO for 
eastern 
Africa met Dr. Abdel Fattah Metawie and Ambassador Mohamed 
Rakik Khalil (MFA advisor at the water ministry) in Cairo on January 
 
19, to discuss the status of the Nile Basin Initiative 
(NBI). According to Egyptian officials, Egypt has done everything it 
 
can, short of changing its position on current uses and rights, to 
negotiate a means to avoid a split, from financial incentives (trade 
 
agreements, project assistance) to providing expertise (loaning 
hydrologists and engineers to the region).  The next Nile-COM has 
been postponed and is now tentatively scheduled to meet the first 
week of April 2009. 
 
¶12. (SBU) A political declaration by Egyptian President Mubarak and 
 
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles asserting support for an accord could 
 
be an appropriate temporary solution at this time to avert an NBI 
split. Egyptians have expressed tentative interest in this route; 
discussions in Washington and in Africa on this subject are 
ongoing. 
 
---------------------- 
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 
---------------------- 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  006.2 OF 013 
 
 
¶13. (U) Interagency Synergies: S&T and Climate Change: REO attended 
a 
USAID regional Global Climate Change (GCC) strategy workshop in 
Nairobi, Kenya, February 1-2.  During the course of the meeting, 
three areas for S&T engagement in eastern Africa emerged that have 
potential GCC linkages. The big three: Energy sector enabling 
environment technical assistance and policy guidance (referencing a 
 
Kenyan model), waste management with clean energy technology 
(Mauritius model, UNEP, EPA, or DoD expertise), and remote sensing 
technology. 
 
¶14. (U) Energy Sector Reform: While Ethiopia, and much of eastern 
Africa, has a high potential in energy for carbon markets, they 
suffer from weak enabling environments.  Given the regions' severe 
energy shortages and growing needs, it is imperative to take every 
opportunity when engaging host-country energy sector counterparts to 
 
press the urgency for energy sector reforms, using Kenya's 
geothermal 
sector as a model.  With countries increasingly associating with the 
 
Copenhagen Accord, complying with the objective to provide $100 
billion annually beginning in 2020 to the countries most vulnerable 
 
to climate change will be an issue of much future discussion.  Given 
 
that a country's contribution to this figure can include private 
sector investment, it becomes increasingly evident that the time is 
 
now to encourage eastern African governments to improve their 
countries' energy sector business and investment climates.  U.S. 
private sector investment in eastern Africa's vast, yet virtually 
untapped, geothermal resources alone could prove massive if much 
needed investment-friendly reforms devised are passed. The GCC clean 
 
energy component of USAID funding should focus on helping 
governments 
devise strategies to create enabling environments that will attract 
 
large-scale energy sector investment in clean energy along the model 
 
of KENGEN in Kenya. 
 
 
¶15. (U) Waste Management: In the meantime, opportunities exist for 
S&T outreach in waste management, with direct linkages to clean 
energy development.  Using a Mauritius model, and capitalizing on 
DoD's or UNEP's expertise (currently working with Comoros on waste 
management), GCC funding could be used to support S&T partnerships 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  007.2 OF 013 
 
 
to 
confront a largely overlooked waste management problem throughout 
eastern Africa.  Engagement in this area would have positive health 
 
and environmental implications in addition to generating clean 
energy. 
 
¶16. (U) Remote Sensing: REDD+ criteria currently requires that 
participating countries need to have updated forestry inventories, 
yet most of eastern Africa lacks this data and lacks sufficient 
capacity to collect the updated information.  During the course of 
my 
REO travels through the region, I have repeatedly fielded requests 
for technical assistance and capacity building in remote sensing, 
satellite imagery, and geographic information systems (GIS).  From 
government officials in water, energy, and forestry ministries, to 
universities and parastatal research facilities and wildlife 
authorities and meteorological institutes, science and technology 
remote sensing needs are both real and high. 
 
¶17. (U) REO Joins DoD in Cairo for S&T Africa Outreach Workshop: REO 
 
and REA attended a Science and Technology (S&T) workshop in Cairo, 
Egypt January 19-22.  The workshop was co-hosted by the Office of 
Naval Research-Global Division and the Navy Medical Research Unit-3 
 
based in Cairo.  It brought together participants from National 
Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, Africom, 
Department of State, and several branches of the U.S. military.  The 
 
workshop was designed to bring together researchers, scientists, and 
 
policy advocates to develop a vision and focus for partnering, 
collaborating, and coordinating on science and technology outreach 
efforts in North Africa, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
 
¶18. (U) REO presented to the group, outlining the REO function, our 
 
mission and objectives, and highlighting areas for establishing 
partnerships both in eastern Africa and in the North Africa and 
Middle East region.  The workshop was an exploratory exercise, 
designed to examine current local capacity with an eye toward 
identifying potential value added partnerships.  The intent was for 
 
everyone to leave the conference with ideas for collaboration.  From 
 
the REO perspective, the networking opportunity with this highly 
specialized group of scientists was invaluable.  REO will follow up 
 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  008.2 OF 013 
 
 
with ONR-G regarding maritime tracking software that governments 
could use to track illegal fishing vessels in their waters.  A 
common 
complaint of resource-strapped governments is that they are not even 
 
aware of the extent of illegal fishing given poor monitoring 
capabilities.  REO also emphasized waste management opportunities. 
 
------------------------------ 
AROUND THE REGION - MADAGASCAR 
------------------------------ 
¶19. (U) Orientation Visit: NGOs Hang on in Madagascar: REO and REA 
traveled to Madagascar for a 10-day orientation visit January 6-14, 
 
¶2010.  The visit included meetings in Antananarivo with a variety of 
 
international conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) 
such 
as Conservation International, World Wildlife Federation, World 
Conservation Society, and CARE.  We were briefed by USAID regarding 
 
the suspension of their environment program (see page 7) and by 
representatives from the World Bank who stated that while no new 
environment/conservation programs would be approved in Madagascar 
due 
to the ongoing political crises, projects in the pipeline would not 
 
be suspended. 
 
¶20. (U) In addition to NGOs, the World Bank, and USAID, we met with 
 
staff from the environmental offices of the two main mining 
operations in Madagascar, Ambatovy and Rio Tinto's QMM.  Both went 
into extensive detail regarding their environmental impact 
assessments and mitigation strategies to minimize adverse 
environmental degradation in relation to their companies' mining 
activities. They noted they were continuing to operate in spite of 
the political crisis, filling gaps left by suspended NGO programs. 
 
 
¶21. (U) We also incorporated two site visits in the trip, one in 
Andasibe to tour a Conservation International land restoration and a 
 
nursery project site, and the other site visit to Antahala to meet 
with the local prosecutor office in a region heavily impacted by 
illegal rosewood logging.  We rounded out the visit by having a 
discussion with Peace Corps Acting Director Leif Davenport.  Leif 
spent a few months in Ethiopia to help Peace Corps Ethiopia develop 
a 
new Environment Volunteer program and had much to offer in the way 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  009.2 OF 013 
 
 
of 
comparisons between Ethiopia's Parks and Madagascar's Park 15 years 
 
ago.  REA will look to Madagascar as a model as he continues to 
liaise with the Ethiopia Wildlife Conservation Authority. 
 
¶22. (SBU) The conservation NGOs expressed disappointment with the 
suspension of USAID's environment program.  While they understood 
the 
need to send a message to political actors in Madagascar, they 
unanimously argued that a withdraw would place the country's 15-year 
 
conservation efforts in jeopardy and create a vacuum that would 
allow 
illegal logging to expand and flourish, to the benefit of the cash- 
strapped acting government.  The NGOs said they could continue the 
majority of their operations without USAID's assistance, but they 
noted the locally-based Malagassy NGOs would suffer.  We saw an 
example of this in Andasibe, where two nurseries were consolidated 
into one for financial reasons, resulting in a considerable loss of 
 
seedlings. 
 
 
¶23. (SBU) The destabilizing effect of Madagascar's political 
insecurity seemed particularly unfortunate given that the 
development 
community appeared to enjoy an impressive level of coordination 
among 
the NGOs. The NGO's in Madagascar seemed to achieve donor harmony, 
with the groups agreeing to target specified regions and then focus 
 
their NGOs' efforts in their areas of particular expertise within 
that region.  A common theme was the importance of community based 
development and alternative livelihoods in regard to sustainable 
conservation. 
 
¶24. (U) Political Uncertainty in Madagascar Amplifies Environmental 
 
Degradation: Madagascar is recognized as one of the world's leading 
 
biodiversity hotspots.  It boasts 25 families of species that exist 
 
only the island nation, it has over 12,000 species of plants, 363 
species of reptiles, 238 species of amphibians, 283 species of 
birds, 
and 165 species of fish.  Most famously Madagascar is home to 99 
species of lemur that can be found nowhere else on earth. 
Madagascar's richness of flora and fauna, however, does not insulate 
 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  010.2 OF 013 
 
 
it from political realities. In fact Madagascar's current political 
 
crisis has fueled even greater natural resource degradation and 
exploitation.  The instability of the country's government, which 
culminated with a military-coup in Jan 2009 that removed President 
Marc Ravalonana from power and installed the current president and 
head of the High Transitional Authority Andry Rajoelina, has lead to 
 
greater unchecked plunder of the countries natural resources. 
 
¶25. (U) Madagascar has traditionally faced threats to it unique 
biodiversity through habit loss, which has and continues to occur 
from unsustainable subsistence practices such as slash-and-burn 
agriculture, charcoal production, hunting and fishing.  Many of 
these 
threats were and are being addressed by an active coalition of 
international NGOs such as Wildlife Conservation Society, 
Conservation International and World Wildlife Fund.  USAID's 
environmental program has historically planned and integral role in 
 
the environmental planning and implementation of the countries 
protected areas system. 
 
¶26. (SBU) Natural resources are inevitably placed at risk during 
political turmoil.  The political fallout in Madagascar during 2009 
 
and the early part of 2010 has resulted in its wildlife and flora 
suffering to an unprecedented extent. From January to April 2009, it 
 
is estimated that over 500 containers of illegal harvested exotic 
woods were exported and bound for China, with least 200 more 
containers waiting to be exported.  The collection and export of 
illegally harvested exotic timber continues almost unabated with 
continue decrees from the transitional government that appear to 
provide legal cover for what is illegal activity. There is 
speculation that much of the funds recovered by the government in 
fines and other levies from the illegal activity are being used to 
fund the current regime.  The current political crisis creates an 
interesting dynamic in which to address the issue of illegal logging 
 
which is not only impacting the livelihoods of the Malagasy people, 
 
but threatening the viability of a globally significant areas of 
biodiversity. 
 
¶27. (U) A coalition of international NGOs continue to publicize the 
 
issues, but a lack of bi-lateral engagement at the highest 
government 
levels creates a limited number opportunities to pressure the 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  011.2 OF 013 
 
 
transitional government. Under the current political situation, in 
order to comply with the Lacey Act, USAID has been forced to suspend 
 
all non-humanitarian funding and in turn has closed its environment 
 
office.  The World Bank is able to continue is current project work 
 
which will run for the next months, but has halted their planning 
and 
budgeting process for future environment programs. 
 
¶28. (U) While the international community seems limited in its 
ability to respond, it has brought about unprecedented activity from 
 
Malagasy civil society.  Alliance Voahary Gasy, a coalition of 29 
Malagasy civil society organizations, is suing the transitional 
government in an effort to stop the exportation of the illegal 
timber.  While the prospects of success for the lawsuit are very 
low, 
the individuals making up the alliance are willing to assume 
personal 
risk in order to press the importance of the issue. For the latest 
reporting coming from U.S. Embassy Antananarivo, see ANTANANARI 
¶00000053. 
 
-------------- 
CLIMATE CHANGE 
-------------- 
¶29. (U) Positive Climate for Meles at AU Summit: The 14th AU Summit 
 
concluded this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during which 
Ethiopia's 
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi presented a report to the Summit on 
February 1 regarding the negotiation and the outcome of the 
Copenhagen Climate Conference, given his role of Head of the African 
 
Delegation in Copenhagen.  African leaders expressed their 
appreciation to Meles for his "outstanding contribution to safeguard 
 
and maximize the benefits and interests of Africa," acknowledging 
that he had faced tough challenges negotiating with many 
stakeholders.  Given the positive response, Meles was re-elected to 
 
represent Africa as chief negotiator in the next climate change 
conference in Mexico in 2010 and South Africa in 2012. The Summit 
also endorsed the Copenhagen Accord and it was stated that each 
member state should report its consent individually for the UN 
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 
 
¶30. (U) During the AU Summit, Meles proposed the establishment of a 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  012.2 OF 013 
 
 
 
high level panel to deal with the implementation of the  Copenhagen 
 
climate summit recommendations, where the international community 
pledged to give billions of dollars to mitigate the impact of 
climate 
change. While holding discussions with the UN Secretary General, Ban 
 
Ki-moon, Meles said that the panel will help mobilize funds and 
technical support to Africa, which many countries promised to extend 
 
to Africa to tackle the impact of climate change on the 
continent. Meles noted in a meeting with U/S Otero that US President 
 
Obama had expressed support for such a panel. 
 
 
------------ 
BIODIVERSITY 
------------ 
¶31. (U) Regional Environment Officer (REO) and Regional Environment 
 
Assistant (REA) Ira Hersh met with Dr. Kifle Argaw, Director of the 
 
Ethiopia Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA), and Dr. Ludwig 
Sieg, 
Chief Technical Advisor on a GTZ-GEF EWCA capacity building project 
 
on Thursday, February 4, 2010, to discuss Ethiopia's positions 
regarding the CITES CoP 15 USG Proposals.  Dr. Kifle noted that 
Ethiopia's position is still under formulation, but that 
traditionally Ethiopia generally does not take a position on issues 
 
that do not impact the country. It is therefore likely that Ethiopia 
 
will ultimately take a neutral (abstention) or CITES position 
regarding the shark, coral, polar bear and bobcat proposals. Dr. 
Sieg, a German national and conservation consultant with an 
extensive 
background in CITES, mentioned as an aside that it his understanding 
 
that Germany will support the two proposals to list six shark 
species 
in Appendix II. 
 
¶32. (U) Dr.  Kifle took the opportunity of the REO and REA visit to 
 
highlight Ethiopia's position on Elephants, a position that matches 
 
the Elephant Coalition Proposal.  With a population of approximately 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000297  013.2 OF 013 
 
 
 
1,000 elephants residing on Ethiopian territory, and additional 
migratory populations crossing borders with Sudan, Ethiopia sees 
this 
as their primary focus at CoP 15 in Qatar.  Dr. Kifle emphasized 
that 
Ethiopia supports the 9 year moratorium on ivory sales and does not 
 
wish to see this opened for discussion.  If it is opened, Ethiopia 
supports the Kenya-backed Proposal six. 
 
¶33. (U) Dr. Kifle and Dr. Sieg invited the REO office to an 
international fund raising conference tentatively scheduled to take 
 
place in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, February 18, 2010.  The objective of 
the conference will be to raise funds to facilitate the safeguarding 
 
of the UNESCO World Heritage Simien Mountain National Park and its 
flagship species that include the Walia ibex and the Ethiopia wolf, 
 
while also securing the livelihoods of more than 500 area households 
 
that are may be relocated from within the parks borders to 
alternative areas. 
 ------------------- 
REO UPCOMING TRAVEL 
------------------- 
¶34. (U) The Regional Environment Office for eastern Africa will 
remain in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the month of February due to 
 
an OIG visit. The Regional Environment Assistant (REA) is planning a 
 
tour of a few key Ethiopia National Parks in March/April; Regional 
Environment Office (REO) will attend the next Nile-COM meeting in 
Egypt tentatively scheduled for March but perhaps as late as August; 
 
REO will be on R&R April 1-18; REO will attend the next Nile Basin 
Trust Fund meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, April 20-23; REO and Regional 
 
Environment Specialist (RES)  will attend the World Geothermal 
Conference in Bali, Indonesia, April 25-30; RES has applied to 
attend 
the 2010 International Seminar on Climate Change and Natural 
Resource 
Management in California May 9-30, and REO is working with OES/PCI 
to 
identify a location and a date in May for the ESTH Africa 
conference. 
 
#YATES