A tree has a lot to say. “From the composition of its growth rings, we learn if the tree has lived through many dry or wet periods. From the growth of its trunk, we can determine whether it has had to fight against pollutants or to withstand natural disasters such as fire storms, lightning or hail.” Dr. Aster Gebrekirstos is trained in communicating with trees. Using modern methods such as isotope and microstructure analyses, she can interpret the information contained in tree rings, which function as diverse environmental archives, and in this way is able to reconstruct the history of climate and land use in particular regions of the earth. The tropical forestry expert works at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi. As part of the Institutional Strategy, she is currently an Eleonore Trefftz visiting woman professor at TU Dresden’s Faculty of Environmental Sciences.

Germany is not unknown territory for the 47-year-old visiting professor from Ethiopia. Thanks to a DAAD scholarship, Aster Gebrekirstos completed her PhD on the Ecology of the Tropical Rainforest in Göttingen. She has also gained further experience of Europe as a result of doing a Masters in Tropical Forestry in the Netherlands and during a stay as a post-doc in the field of medical biochemistry in Sweden. Last but not least, her husband is a German researcher from Erlangen. They have been married for eight years and live in a long-distance relationship.

This is because in Kenya, she is able to realise her vision. Through extensive reforestation programmes, she is seeking to make a contribution to the fight against the consequences of climate change. In this context, her profound knowledge of tropical forest ecosystems and of sustainable management of soil and water resources is of considerable benefit to her. For example, in 2014, she won the “African Climate Change Award” and in 2009, the “Special Award for Ground Breaking Science”. She brought her knowledge to bear in several lectures in October as part of the international TUD Masters Programme “Tropical Forestry” and at the “Centre for International Postgraduate Studies of Environmental Management” (CIPSEM). “­I am very happy that TU Dresden invited me to apply for this visiting professorship,” says the Head of the Dendrochronology Laboratory in Nairobi. “Women have to overcome so many obstacles, so it’s good when they are given encouragement and support.”

Aster Gebrekirstos is also involved in the courses of the Nexus Academy, which TU Dresden organises together with the Dresden branch of the United Nations University, UNU-FLORES. This means that she will be returning to Dresden in May for the joint Nexus Conference, which will focus on measuring and implementing goals of sustainable development.

However, her first port of call after her stay at TUD was at the global UN climate conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, at the beginning of November.resolveuid/d884409dbbe64e8491f1a8cdd13fe6fe