The World Agroforestry Centre’s Dr Aster Gebrekirstos Afwork has been named co-winner of the 2014 AfriCAN Climate Award.

Africa Green Media reports that the award aims to promote the presence of African women researchers in the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation in an African context.

Afwork received the award in recognition of her work in dendrochronology - the study of tree rings – which she has used to determine that droughts in East Africa have shortened from every 2 to 8 years to every 2 to 3 years over the last 70 years.

By measuring the width of tree rings, the size of their vessels and stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in the wood, patterns of temperature and moisture can be determined for the time the ring was formed in the tree.

“Aster’s work has immense importance to developing accurate predictions of future climate at a local and regional scale,” says the article. She has been instrumental in establishing a state of the art dendrochronology lab at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

Afwork shares the award with Dr Debra Cynthia Roberts head of the eThekwini Municipality’s Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department in South Africa.

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Read the full story: eThekwini Municipality environment head wins AfriCAN Climate Award  
See photos from the Award Ceremony: Photos

Learn more about Dendrochronology research at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi