Ethiopia faces multifaceted challenges that merit urgent and persistent attention. These challenges range from social to economic and everything in between with the potential to undermine the survival and sustainability of our society. Environmental factors play a critical role as both a cause and an effect of the sustainability ills Ethiopia has been suffering from. Understanding and appreciating the type, scale and complexity of the issues provides a good basis for developing and implementing meaningful and sustainable solutions. This interactive workshop on Zoom will start with a presentation on an overview of perspectives and issues. There will be a group breakout discussion on different aspects and will then end with summary of discussions.  

 Brief Bio

Dr. Getachew Assefa is Associate Professor of Sustainable Design, at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary with a focus on sustainable development and design. He is the former Athena Chair in Life Cycle Assessment at the Faculty of Environmental Design. His research interest includes life cycle sustainability assessment, life cycle assessment, built environment assessment, environmental product declaration, industrial ecology, and sustainable consumption. He focuses on the design and development of technical systems including energy systems, biofuels and bioenergy, waste management system, and buildings. He teaches courses in life cycle assessment, industrial ecology, global sustainability, building design decisions, and architecture and life cycle assessment. He was a Fellow of Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies in South Africa while working on a book chapter on sustainable infrastructure planning and development in Africa. He has active teaching and research collaboration with universities in Ethiopia. He is the winner of University of Calgary’s Sustainability Award for 2017 for Campus as Learning Lab Category, and Outstanding Teaching Performance Award from Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary in 2015 and 2016, and Green Hero Award from Forum for Environment for his past weekly column on environment and energy issues. His research has been published in well-known journals in his area such as the Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Building and Environment, and Journal of Sustainable Cities and Society. He has a B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia where he is originally from, MSc in Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Infrastructure and a Ph.D. in Industrial Ecology from Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. His over twenty years of experience of teaching and research covers Canada, Sweden, China and Ethiopia. He also consults in the area of product sustainability positioning and life cycle assessment.

ZO