Russ Feingold
Visiting Lecturer, UW-Madison International Division African Studies Former U.S. Senator
September 25, 2018
7:00 PM
Shannon Hall
Wisconsin Union Theater
800 Langdon Street
Former U.S. Senator and Special Envoy to the African Great Lake Region and the Congo-Kinshasa, Russ Feingold, will give a free public lecture sponsored by the UW-Madison Nelson Institute on September 25. In early 2015, a conference was held on the banks of Lake Tanganyika in Kigoma, Tanzania, with environmental, scientific, and other experts from Africa, the U.S., and Canada in order to explore areas of common concern and common opportunity regarding the Great Lakes Region of North America and the Great Lakes Region of Africa. The focus was on the lakes themselves from fish populations to sanitation to climate change implications to tourism potential and beyond. The Conference was initiated by the U.S. Government at the suggestion of the U.S. State Department and the Great Lakes Region of the Environmental Protection Agency. In particular, this was an attempt to start a process that could bring the governments and people in Grest Lakes Region of Africa into a positive partnership as diplomatic efforts were being made to resolve the ongoing war-related catastrophes that have plagued the region since the mid-1990’s. The lecture will explore the varied motivations for the conference, the highlights of the conference, and the ongoing efforts to form partnerships involving the Great Lakes Region of Africa as well as other African lake regions.