Port Harcourt, 22 February
2011 - It is with great sadness that the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
has learned of the death of Nigerian scientist
Clement Kemte Nekabari Faah, a valued member
of UNEP's Ogoniland project team.
Clement, 50, was a senior
Technical Assistant focusing on the agriculture
and forestry component of UNEP's ongoing
environmental assessment of oil contamination
in Ogoniland, Rivers State.
Clement's sudden death
on Saturday 19 February in his village,
Yeghe in Gokana, has shocked and saddened
his colleagues at UNEP. The circumstances
in which he died are being investigated,
but are not believed to be connected to
his work for the United Nations.
Having joined the project
in October 2009, Clement made a significant
contribution to the assessment and was a
core member of the UNEP team. He was involved
in collecting samples of plants, soil and
other data during 14 months of fieldwork
and helped manage UNEP's key partnership
with the Rivers State University of Science
and Technology.
In addition, as an Ogoni
with scientific expertise, Clement provided
invaluable local knowledge and continuity,
and was heavily relied upon by the international
and national experts working alongside him
on the project.
Known for his leadership,
strong ethics and open nature, Clement won
the respect of his colleagues at UNEP and
of many others involved in the project.
He will be deeply missed.
Clement held a masters
degree in environmental engineering and
specialized in pollution control and waste
management.
He is survived by his
mother, his wife and seven children. Members
of the UNEP Project Team, led by the Project
Coordinator Mike Cowing, yesterday visited
Clement's widow to pay their respects. A
memorial service is being planned.
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Get onboard for World
Environment Day 2011!
Forest: Nature at Your
Service
In Support of the International Year of
Forest
Welcome to World Environment Day (WED) 2011!
(Visit: www.unep.org/wed
)
Commemorated every year
on 5 June, since 1972, WED is a principal
vehicle through which the United Nations
stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment.
WED 2011, in support
of the UN International Year of Forests
(IYF), is aimed to be the biggest and most
widely celebrated global day for positive
action for the environment. We count on
you to make this happen! This year's theme
- Forests: Nature at Your Service - underscores
the variety of life-sustaining services
that forests provide and calls us all to
take action to protect these resources and
move towards a green economy.
The global host country
for 2011 is India, a country in which forests
constitute more than 20 percent of geographical
land mass. Read about the measures the country
is taking to combat land-degradation and
conserve critical forest ecosystems on www.unep.org/wed/hostcountry
.
Every activity matters
- organize a neighborhood clean-up; announce
an environmental initiative for your city,
state or country; adopt targets for environmental
improvements in your company; use cloth
bags and motivate your school mates and
teachers to do the same; plant a tree or
better yet organize a collective tree-planting
effort for your family; walk to work, start
a recycling drive among your friends . .
. the possibilities are endless.
Whether you're new to
WED or a loyal supporter, we welcome you
to what is possibly the biggest WED celebration
in history.
Register your activity
and join the Wide World of WED
Download WED logo, posters,
videos, web banners and other materials
to promote your activity
Listen to one of our
WED Voices - Sir David Attenborough - bring
the WED 2011 message to life in a short
animated film that highlights the role forests
can play in national development, a green
economy and climate change. You will find
the film on our homepage: www.unep.org/wed
)
