Ethiopia Fossil Find Could Shed Light on
Climate Change

26 October, 2009 | By Peter Heinlein (VOA)
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Photo AP
Fossils can provide mankind with a unique key to an uncharted
past (file photo)

Scientists in Ethiopia have unearthed 22-million-year-old fossils,
fauna and flora, completing a chain of data that could shed light on
the phenomenon of climate change.

The latest discovery was made in an ancient lake bed 150
kilometers northeast of the Ethiopian capital.  It is not the oldest find
of amphibian, mammal and fish fossils in Africa. But principal
investigator Mulugeta Feseha, a geologist at Addis Ababa
University, says it completes a picture of climatic conditions over a
30-million-year period.

"This is a unique aspect of Ethiopian geology that can contribute
towards modeling of ancient climate or environmental
reconstruction.  When we think of developing a model we have to
find sites that are 28 million, 25 million, 20, 10 up to zero.  That is
how you develop a model.  So this 22-million-year-old fossil site
fills a gap that has never been identified in all parts of Africa.”

Mulugeta says since there were no humans on earth 20- to 30-
million years ago, comparing carbon-dioxide levels between then
and now will help in understanding to what extent human activity
affects climate change.

"Knowing the carbon-dioxide concentration of that time and
knowing carbon-dioxide concentration of this time, which we know,
can give us an idea if we are in a global warming event," says
Mulugeta.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is in the forefront of global
climate negotiations aimed at persuading the United States and other
developed countries to pay for damage done by human-induced
climate change.  He will lead a delegation of 10 African heads of
state at the Cancun climate summit in December.

But Mr. Zenawi told a meeting in Addis Ababa this month he
expects the Cancun summit to be “a flop.” He accused developed
countries of not taking seriously the search for a global climate-
change deal.


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