October, 2006 No. 8

P.O.Box 10386 Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Tel.251-1-5521662/76 e-mail: ffe@ethionet.et

Activities

Green Award Program

Green Award Program, that has been entitled to serve as a tool for environmental advocacy by encouraging environmental awareness and practical actions, has been successfully inaugurated. Regional as well as National Green Award committees have been established whose main duty is to serve as a jury in selecting the respective Green Award winners.

The first regional Green Award ceremonies took place in each regional capital from April to May 2006 while the National Green Award ceremony has been conducted on June 5, 2006. Moreover, as a continuation to the 2006-Green Award Program, the regional and national Green Award committees are preparing to receive applications for the next 2007- Green Award Program.

Discussion and Debate Forums

Public Meetings

FfE has joined hands with the Ethiopian Foresters Association (EFA), Ethiopian Coffee Forest Forum (ECFF), and Ethiopian Wetlands and Natural Resources Association (Non-timber Forest Products Project) in 2006 to organize a series of public meetings under the title, ‘Non-timber Forest Products: a win-win for Poverty Reduction and Environmental protection.’ So far, six meetings have been conducted. The main topics covered are gums and incenses; wild coffee; apiculture (honey and bee wax); bamboo; edible wild plants and animals; shea butter tree; and medicinal plants. One more meeting will take place on spices and essential oil on November 10 which will be eventually followed by a big wrap-up meeting at the end of the year 2006.

Debriefing Session on the third Meeting of the Bio safety Protocol

On the 14th of April FfE has organized a half-day debriefing session on the third international meeting of the Bio safety Protocol that was held between the 13th and 17th of March 2006. The resource person was Dr. Tewoldeberhan Gebregziabher, Director General of the Federal EPA who was one of the key participants during this meeting. Dr. Tewoldeberhan reflected on the major outcomes of the meeting and its implications for countries like Ethiopia.

Public lectures

A series of public lectures have been given to students of the Ethiopian Civil Service College on selected topics. The topics for the public lecture were: Biotechnology and Biosafety and International Agreements on Environment with reference to Ethiopian Context.

International multi-stakeholder forum and Panel Discussion

FfE hosted a meeting of the International Flower Campaign (IFC) that took place between the 15th and 17th of May 2006 in Addis Ababa. There were 15 participants who are from flower producing and importing countries (of the five continents) as well as some international organizations such as IUF and SASK. FfE used this opportunity to conduct the first international multi-stakeholder conference on the flower industry in Ethiopia. The meeting entertained lessons and experiences of other countries in the flower industry in terms of economic, social and environmental issues. The forum was an eye opener in terms of sharing the social and environmental faces of the industry in other countries. The FFP (fair flower fair plants) Label was also launched which has an aim of promoting environmentally and socially friendly flower production.

Green Forum

Green Forum 2006 has been organized by the FfE as a joint initiative with ENDA Ethiopia, Melca Mahber, Henrich Boell Foundation and Addis Ababa University. The main aim of the forum was to exchange ideas, information and experiences in relation to the major ecosystems of Ethiopia. In addition to this, the meeting was aimed at creating opportunities for further cooperation and networking. In this regard, the forum enabled group planning and joint action on global environmental issues and also opened space for the creation of a wider environmental network amongst actors.

The three day event took place from October 2-4, 2006 at the Addis Ababa University, Science Faculty. Five papers were presented on the forum which allowed discussions and comment sessions to take place in a wider space. The papers focused on the forest ecosystem, urban ecosystem, highland ecosystem, wetlands ecosystem, and low land ecosystem. There has also been a presentation about knowledge and experience sharing and management by an expert from Agri-Service Ethiopia. In addition to this, exhibitions organized by about fifteen CSOs including that of the organizers and other individuals have been presented to the public.

The forum was concluded by presenting a fourteen point declaration during a press conference. Generally the forum served as the best agent for a wider information flow and awareness creation.

Young Writer’s Workshop

Two workshops on environmental reporting have been held in Dire Dawa and Holleta.

Dire Dawa: the Dire Dawa Young Writers’ Workshop has been organized in collaboration with Dire Dawa Youth Association has been held from April 27-28, 2006. A total of forty youth writers have participated in this training of which twelve participants were females.

Holleta: the Holleta Young Writers’ Workshop has been organized in collaboration with the Holleta local FfE group and held from October 6-7, 2006. A total of thirty five youth drawn from various environmental clubs and youth associations have participated in this training.

The third and the last Young Writer’s Workshop for the year 2006 will be held in Assosa and/ or Arsi Negelle in collaboration with the respective local FfE groups.

Board Meetings

The FfE board members had conducted a general meeting on October 14, 2006 to discuss the activities undertaken by Forum for Environment.

Networking

FfE has initiated and joined a number of networks working on diverse environmental issues. Some of these are: Sheka Forest Alliance, National Flower Alliance (NFA), Green Forum, Ethiopian Country Water Partnership (ECWP), Horn of Africa Regional Environment Network (HoAREN).

Participation in Dutch exchange for youth executives (EYE) program

In January 2006, Share People (then still called EYE), an initiative of ICCO and two other Dutch business groups, came to Ethiopia for the first exchange visit to this country. FfE had two real life cases, one on sustainable natural resource management in and around Nech Sar National Park, Arba Minch and another on Corporate Social and Ecological Responsibility in the floriculture Industry. Two representatives from FfE joined the whole program as local counterparts throughout the process.

Survey on Public Awareness and Accountability

From 2006-2008, the activities of FfE have been geared at creating public awareness and

accountability in the country. To this end, financial assistance from ICCO was secured with the conditions of undertaking a national survey at the beginning and the end of the three year period to help evaluate the impacts of the project.

Local Groups

New local group established: the 10^th local group has been established in Mekelle on 22^nd July 2006. Twenty-seven people (including one woman) participated in the launching meeting. In addition, board members who will be responsible for coordinating activities were selected.

~ Technical support to local groups:- Trainings were offered to Arba Minch and Assosa local groups on the topics of “project designing, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.”

~ Material and financial support :- Furniture, office equipment (including computers, printers and copiers) and stationery materials amounting to Birr 86,000 (Eighty Six Thousand Birr), was purchased and distributed to four local groups that have already finalized registration process in their respective localities, namely, Awassa, Arsi Negelle, Arba Minch and Assosa. In addition, FfE has given financial support to some local groups to facilitate their legal registration process in their respective localities and regions.

The Dire Dawa Flood Disaster:

FfE mobilized three environmental NGOs, namely, EWNHS, SLUF and ISD as well as the proprietor of Eco-Yehulunesh Stove, Captain Mekonen Kaptimer to deliver seven heavy duty eco-stoves to the flood-affected people in Dire Dawa through the Dire Dawa local group. Nine Stoves costing about Birr 18,000 have been provided to the City Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Office, three of which were donated by FfE. The stoves are now providing services to the flood refugees who are staying in temporary shelters.

Legalization of local groups

Two local groups in Oromiya, namely Assela and Arsi Negelle, have already got their legal certificates through the financial and technical support provided by FfE. FfE is currently assisting three other local groups, namely, Mekelle, Holleta and Gonder which are in the process of attaining their legal registration in their localities.

Holleta Local Group

FfE and Holleta local group (through Gudina Kusaye Farmers Cooperative /GKFC) have entered a partnership agreement with the Organization for Stability and Growth of Ethiopia (OSGE), which is an association of Ethiopians residing in the U.S.A. The project has been implemented with financial assistance from OSGE members based on a project proposal prepared by FfE together with GKFC.

Celebrations

The tree day was celebrated in collaboration with six FfE local groups, namely, Assela, Holleta, Arsi Negelle, Gondar and Awassa. The day was marked with tree planting activities by local communities in the locations of the local groups and also discussions and debates took place in the respective localities.

Publications

Three thousand copies of Akirma issue number 13 entitled “pesticides and environment” has been published and is being distributed. Based on the decisions of the editorial committee, the editorial content of the magazine has been revised. Akirma issue number 14 with a cover story of “population and environment” is under preparation.

Coming events and activities	Tentative dates
Wrap up meeting on non-timber forest products: a win-win for poverty reduction and environmental protection	December, 2006
Launching of a study report on the flood disaster and its links to environmental degradation	November -December, 2006

Quote of the month

“The sky is held up by the trees.

If the forest disappears, the sky-roof of the world collapses.

Nature and man then perish together.”

An old North American Indian saying

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