UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee first raised its apparent concern about the construction of the Gibe III Dam and the possible impacts on Lake Turkana, a World Heritage Site, at a meeting last June. It warned that the Gibe III Dam was likely to significantly alter Lake Turkana’s fragile hydrological regime, and would threaten its aquatic species and associated biological systems.  The Committee urged Ethiopia to immediately halt all construction on the project and called for all financial institutions supporting the Gibe III dam to put their financial support on hold until the Committee reviewed the issue next year. In a letter to the Ethiopian and Chinese governments, (a Chinese state-owned bank is providing some of the funding) the Committee referred to Lake Turkana as an outstanding research area for animal and plant communities, and notes that the area’s rich fossil finds have allowed “reconstructing the history of animal species and mankind over the past 2 million years”. The Minister of Water and Energy, Ato Alemayheu Tegenu, who visited the project last month, said the dam was on schedule for completion in 2013. The two billion dollar scheme will produce 1,870 MW when finished and involve a transmission line to the Gilgel Gibe II project and to Addis Ababa.