Mr Brown’s appointment followed a competitive interview process supervised by the Public Services Commission to fill the vacant position.

Mr Brown, a seasoned forester with nearly three decades of experience in tropical forest management, protection and development, was the Director of Operations responsible for Forest Plantations for 10 years.

His appointment was made in accordance with the advice of the governing board of the Forestry Commission, given in consultation with the Public Services Commission.

A letter signed by the Secretary of the Public Services Commission, Mrs Mabel Amoako-Atta, noted that his appointment took effect from June 14, 2022, and charged him to help to provide strategic vision and direction for the achievement of the strategic and business objectives and goals of the FSD and the Forestry Commission.

Mr Hugh is a certified forester with over 28 years of work experience in tropical forest management, protection and development.

He holds a BSc. in Natural Resources Management, an MBA from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, and Masters in Forestry from Yale University, USA.

His professional affiliations include Ghana Institute of Foresters (member, 1994); Society of American Foresters (Certified Forester, 2010), and Society for Ecological Restoration (member, 2010; Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner, 2018).

He currently represents Africa on the steering committee of TEAKNET, an international network of institutions, companies and individuals involved in the cultivation, research, harvesting, processing and marketing of teak timber.

He was instrumental in helping Ghana win the bid to host the upcoming World Teak Conference (WTC 2022) in September this year.

Under Mr Hugh’s leadership as Director of Operations (Plantations) of the FSD, over 450,000 hectares of degraded forest land is currently under restoration nationwide, employing various landscape restoration interventions.

He also recently coordinated the planting of an estimated seven million tree seedlings and 25 million tree seedlings under the Green Ghana project in 2021 and 2022 respectively which aims at restoring degraded landscapes and contributing to the global fight against climate change.

He has co-authored publications in Forest Ecology and Management, and IUFRO World Series journals.

He was the lead editor of the book ‘Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy: 2016 – 2040’ which provides a blueprint for forest landscape restoration in Ghana.

In 2020, he was awarded the Prospect Street Award for environmental leadership by Yale University, the first person of African descent to win the prestigious global award.

Source : Graphiconline