Dr Sam Essiamah, A Ghanaian-born Forest Research Scientist based in Germany, has won a German Nature and Environmental Prize award organised by the German Lower Saxony BINGO Environmental Foundation in Germany.
The award was contested by 31 highly qualified applicants including Dr Essiamah, a Ghanaian-born who won the prestigious Prize with his projects in Germany and Ghana, which seek to create awareness and interest among school children and the Youth in Nature and Environmental Protection.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Lower Saxony Bingo Environmental Foundation and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Agona Nyakrom in the Agona West.
The Citation, which accompanied the award was presented to Dr. Sam Essiamah by Mr. Stefan Wenzel, Lower Saxony Minister of Environment and Energy at a ceremony held in Hannover, Germany.
It said Dr. Sam Essiamah studied Forestry at the University of Göttingen, Germany and obtained his PhD in 1982.
The statement noted that he had since been researching into the destruction of Forest Ecosystems at various Institutions in Germany, the Ghanaian-born Scientist, had also travelled widely, published and spoken extensively on the destruction of the West African Rain Forest where the impact of increasing deforestation is remarkable.
The Ghanaian-born Scientist, nicknamed “Dr. Rainforest”, left his research activities in 2004 to concentrate on his German – Ghana Project. The statement said.
Dr. Essiamah is currently running a Tree Planting on School Compounds project in Ghana, initiated in 1995 with four schools in the Central Region and had been increased to 75.
The statement said Dr. Essiamah was tasked with other Researchers in finding solutions to Forest die back in Germany in the early 80s and has been involving himself with various environmental projects in Ghana (Ref. Homepage of his Association: www.schulwaelder.org).
It said the research led into the discovery of a small machine used in sapping standing trees, which he later handed over to Government of Ghana.
It stated that solar lamps as incentive have been introduced into the project, where a child gets a free solar lamp when he/she plants six trees and caters for them for six months, “since every child is eager to receive a solar lamp, and thousands of trees are being planted.”
A modern tree nursery was completed in September 2016 where 10,000 tree seedlings have already been nursed and planted by the children. It said.
It said Dr. Essiamah has received several international awards with his Ghana’s tree planting project, some of which included: End of 2013: UNESCO Award, Mai 2008: Prize Award from World Bank for competition organized in Ghana on the Theme “Lighting Africa” with the Title “One Child One Solar light” in May 2004: German GLOBO:LOG Prize-Award”.
GNA
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