4TH PCIA FORUM TACKLES INDOOR AIR POLLUTION

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