On 1st October 2013, Patrick Opoku will be arriving from Ghana to spend a year of research under Prof. Dr. Norbert Weber at the Professorship of Forest Policy and Forest Resources Economics. Patrick Opoku has been awarded one of the most coveted “International Climate Protection Fellowships” by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Forests play a key role as carbon sinks in the field of climate protection, because they absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it. Especially in countries in the southern hemisphere, forest ecosystems are being destroyed to great extents due to illegal logging and the conversion into agricultural land. The international community of states in the meantime has developed some instruments intended to counter these effects. These measures primarily include the programmes REDD and REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), which are to be instrumental in reducing carbon dioxide emissions resulting from deforestation and the deterioration of forest conditions. At the European Union level, specific instruments have been created with the implementation of the so-called FLEGT Action Plan (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) and the European Timber Regulation which intends to curb illegal logging on the demand side.

Ghana, Mr Opoku’s country of origin, has been in the front lines in the fight against illegal logging since it was the first country to sign a voluntary partnership agreement with the European Union within the framework of the FLEGT Action Plan. This facilitates the timber trade with this country while at the same time an effective control system is being developed.

At the TU Dresden, Patrick Opoku will concentrate on issues of how the individual instruments are being applied in Ghana. He will focus his attention on the interactions between the international initiatives for climate protection in Ghana. In addition he will focus on the influence these initiatives have on forestry and the direct living environment of the people in Ghana whose subsistence depends on the forests. His findings and perceptions are to provide a basis from which to derive recommendations for an improved coordination of international initiatives in Ghana in order to increase the effectiveness of climate protection measures.

Patrick Opoku has several academic qualifications from the Kwame Nkrumahh University of Science and Technology, for example, a Master’s degree (M.Sc.) in Development Planning & Management and a Bachelor’s degree (B.Sc. Hons.) in Natural Resources Management. He was already able to familiarise himself with the specific features of environmental policies in Europe during his stay at the University of Copenhagen in 2011 and during his collaboration with the Dutch organisation for development cooperation Tropenbos International in 2010.


Download Photo (Patrick Opoku, photo: private)

Information for Journalists:
Prof. Norbert Weber,
Institute of Forest Economics and Forest Management Planning
Professorship of Forest Policy and Forest Resources Economics
TU Dresden
Tel.: ++49 (0)35203 38-31828,


Kim-Astrid Magister,
Pressestelle TU Dresden,
Tel.: ++49 (0)351 463-32398,

Dresden, 1. October 2013