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 policy interaction. With this objective in mind, EEPFE has participated in high level policy dialogues and workshops through exhibitions and displays.
EEPFE at the 5th Joint Meeting of the African Union Conference
One of the major participation in the first quarter of this year has been at the Fifth Joint Meeting of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance (CAMEF/CAMFED) that ran from March 22-27, 2012 under the theme ‘Unleashing Africa's Potential as a Pole of Global Growth’. The conference took place at the new ultra-modern office facilities of the African Union in Addis Ababa. The invitation to this international exhibition came through EEPFE’s host institution, the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI). On this international exhibition a brief presentation of EEPFE and EDRI was given and soft copies of the Discussion Paper Series were disseminated to interested participants and observers. The RFF published book series [1] were also available for display and attracted the attention of many of the viewers. This high-level conference served as a great opportunity not only to disseminate resources but also to promote the existence of the forum in Ethiopia as well as other African countries.
EEPFE resources were also disseminated on a workshop prepared by the Ministry of Water and Energy under the topic ‘The responsibilities and participation of private and non-governmental organizations in the Growth and Transformation Plan’ which took place on March 28, 2012 in Addis Ababa.
EEPFE at the 4th African Carbon Forum
The 4th Africa Carbon Forum, which took place from April 18-20, 2012 in Addis Ababa, brought together over 1000 stakeholders in the carbon market from the private, non-governmental, governmental and multilateral organizations. The trade fair accommodated over 20 organizations including EEPFE, which enabled the promotion of the works done by the center as well as the EfD initiative through out the world. The forum is a trade fair and knowledge sharing platform for carbon investments in Africa. It is a place to discuss the latest development in the carbon market and how the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other mitigation mechanisms can be successful in Africa. The CDM Loan Scheme was officially Launched at the opening of this forum implying that potential projects in Africa can now apply for interest free loans from the Scheme.
Besides introducing the very existence of EEPFE, the promotional activities conducted on this forum have initiated interest among various project developers for collaborative research works in the future.
EEPFE represented on the International and Annual Conference on the Ethiopian Economy held from 19-21 July 2012 and organized by the Ethiopian Economics Association in Addis Ababa bringing together over 500 participants including policy makers, academicians, students, and other stakeholders from various international and national organizations.
Book and Resource Dissemination to Stakeholders
In addition, the forum sent the book entitled ‘Fuel Tax and the Poor: The distributional effects of gasoline taxation and their implications for climate policy, including the Discussion Paper Series to over ten governmental and non-governmental organizations that are EEPFE’s stakeholders. The targeted organizations are those that are working on climate change. These include the Ministry of Water and Energy, Environmental Protection Authority, Ethiopian Development Research Institute, Addis Ababa University- School of Economics, Ethiopian Civil Society Network on Climate Change, Horn of Africa Regional Environment Center, GIZ, Institute for Sustainable Development, Climate Change Forum-Ethiopia, and Africa Climate Policy Centre.
EEPFE is also negotiating to link its website to higher learning academical institutions to increase the visibility of the resources to students and facility members and hence achieve the objective of increasing the number of environmental economics researchers in Ethiopia.
[1]1. Fuel Taxes and the Poor: The distributional effects of gasoline taxation and their implications for climate policy, edited by Thomas Sterner, RFF Press, 2012.
2. Agricultural Investments and Productivity: Building sustainability in East Africa, edited by Randall A. Bluffstone and Gunnar Kohlin, Environment for Development, 2011.
3. Choice Experiments in Developing Countries: Implementation, challenges, and policy implications, edited by Jeff Bennett and Ekin Birol,Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010.
4. The Emergence of Land Markets in Africa: Impacts on poverty,equity, and efficiency, edited by Stein T. holden, Keijiro Otsuka and Frank M. Place, Environment for Development, 2009.