A Rocha Ghana Chairman wins MIDORI Prize

It was announced in September that Professor Alfred Oteng-Yeboah is one of three winners of the prestigious MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2014. Professor of Botany at the University of Ghana, he is Chair of the Ghana National Biodiversity Committee and has led international negotiations on biodiversity from a global perspective, having a worldwide impact.

‘The Professor’s commitments make many demands on him,’ says Seth Appiah-Kubi, National Director of A Rocha Ghana, ‘yet he has always made A Rocha one of his priorities. I can call him at any time, and he schedules his travels so as to avoid missing our board meetings. His knowledge and experience has profoundly shaped our direction and at critical moments, he gets personally involved. For example, when we heard that Atewa Range Forest Reserve was being opened up for bauxite mining, he led our delegation to the Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission and then helped us plan our campaign to save the forest. We’re delighted that his wisdom, expertise and influence have been so publicly recognised.’

Each recipient is awarded 100,000 US dollars to support their work in safeguarding biodiversity. They were honoured at a ceremony on 15 October in Pyeongchang, South Korea, held in conjunction with the high-level segment of the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

In the photo: Professor Oteng-Yeboah, centre, with A Rocha Ghana trustees, Ghana team members and ARI team visitors in Accra.