Mohamed Kassas
Dr. Mohamed Abdel Fattah Al-Kassas (also known as Mohamed Kassas, 6 July 1921
He studied at the University of Cairo, where he received a
His principal research interests during the last 55 years were in plant ecology, especially in arid lands. He and his students surveyed plant life in the deserts and coastal lands of Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq and contributed to the basic understanding of the ecology of the desert vegetation. He was among the pioneers who warned the world against hazards of desertification, contributed to the UNESCO Arid Lands Research Program, (1950-1960) and to the scientific preparation for the United Nations Conference on Desertification (1977) and was senior Advisor to the Intergovernmental committee that negotiated the Convention on Desertification (1992-1994).
Honours
- Egypt
- First Order of Science and Arts (1959)
- Order of the Republic (1978)
- First Order of Merit (1981)
- State Science Prize (1982)
- International
- The Golden Order for Education (Sudan, 1978)
- United Nations Prize for Environment (1978)
- Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) Gold Medal (1978)
- Commander in the Order of the Golden Ark (The Netherlands, 1981)
- Commander: the Swedish Royal Order of the Polar Star (1998)
- Zayed (UAE) International Prize for Environment (2001)
References
- ^ a b c d N.N.: Biography of Mohamed Kassas, MedWetCoast. URL retrieved 2011-01-24.
- ^ "Egypt mourns Mohamed Kassas, the country's pioneer environmentalist". Egypt Independent. 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
- ^ Hesselink, Frits; Čeřovský, Jan: Learning to Change the Future Archived 2011-09-06 at the Wayback Machine, IUCN 2008, p. 22. URL retrieved 2011-01-24.
- Dr Mostafa K. Tolba, former executive director, UNDP, Delivering his Eulogy in honor of Prof Kassas (Arabic).