The LARIMA project, running from 2015 to 2019 aimed, amongst others, to build human capacity to assess the health of surface water resources and generate new knowledge for understanding the linkages between socio-economic development and aquatic ecosystem services in Ethiopia. APPEAR scholar Aschalew Lakew Haile played a crucial role in this project according to project coordinator Dr. Wolfram Graf: “Without his support and ability to organize three-week long expeditions along 1,200 river kilometers the project would have failed for sure. His talent to find viable solutions in almost hopeless situations, consists of passion paired with excellent communication skills and a great sense of humour”.
As part of the expedition a new species of Aphelocheiridae, a predacious aquatic insect, was collected and described. The family Aphelocheiridae within the insect order Hemiptera (bugs) of tropical Africa are poorly studied. Its poor dispersal abilities result in a high number of regionally endemic species. Only four species from the Democratic Republic of Kongo, from Kenya, from Uganda, and from Cameroon are documented so far. The new species was named Aphelocheirus aschalewi to honour Aschalew Haile Lakew for his important role in establishing and conducting the LARIMA Project. A paper about the new species was published by Dr. Herbert Zettel from Natural History Museum Vienna, in the journal “Linzer biologische Beiträge” in February 2021.
Aschalew Lakew Haile received a B.Sc. degree in Biology at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Further, a M.Sc. degree with distinction in Environmental Science, with specialization in Limnology and Wetland Ecosystems from the UNESCO‐IHE, Institute for water education Delft, The Netherlands, in collaboration with Austrian Academy of Science and the Institute of Limnology, Mondsee, Austria.
He obtained his PhD at BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, financed by APPEAR. Despite his youth he was already the Head of Biology Department at Dilachin Secondary school, Addis Ababa and several times Director at the National Fisheries and Aquatic Life Research Center (NFALRC) in Ethiopia.
