2007 National Arbor Day Awards

Sebastian Chuwa, a tree planter from Moshi, Tanzania, Africa, will be at Arbor Day Farm to receive the J. Sterling Morton Award, the highest individual honor given by The National Arbor Day Foundation for exemplary work at the national or international level.

Chuwa, a botanist, has been studying the environmental problems in Tanzania for more than 30 years, and his solutions have benefited the land but also the people who depend on it for sustenance. Since 1992, Chuwa has established more than 50 clubs to teach youth about the need to conserve. He has also inspired the founding of women’s tree-planting groups, and he actively works with Roots and Shoots, a youth conservation foundation run by Jane Goodall. Chuwa has helped plant more than 1 million African Blackwood trees in Tanzania, and has helped create nurseries to lead the reforestation efforts of the tree that is one of the most highly valued and over harvested plants in Africa.

“Sebastian’s dedication to community-supported initiatives and youth education has inspired a generation in his homeland to plant and celebrate the value of trees,” said John Rosenow, president of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Through his tree-planting efforts, he is making an impact at home and around the world.”

See photos and video of Sebastian at the 2007 Arbor Day Awards weekend.