NEW! Kenyan Don shares A Nobel Prize with former US VP
Written by Riziki Makokha |
In 2007, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to Dr Alexander (AL) Gore the former Vice President of the US and Professor Richardson Samson Odingo which they shared, to honour scientific excellence and tireless efforts by 2500 scientists working under the leadership of IPCC to convince the world that global warming and climate change is a reality. Prof Odingo, who is one of the three vice presidents and who has served in the same capacity for the last ten years, he was awarded the prize for his role in raising concerns about global warming and climate change. His contribution to climate change spans more than three decades.”My training as a geographer enabled me to balance arguments between climate change and global warming at the international level.”
The award was in recognition of the roles played by IPCC and AlGore in laying the foundation for the measures that are needed to counteract the change. As the Vice Chair of IPCC, Prof Odingo has been responsible for supervising research and report of assessments on all aspects of climate change.
Prof Odingo was born on March 7, 1935 in Nyakach District Nyanza Province, and was a student at Nyakach Primary School from 1944-1947, thereafter continued his studies at Nyangori Junior School from 1948-1950. Prof Odingo appreciates the great contribution of his father in his pursuit for education. He had nice words about his relatives. “My uncle, on various occasions, paid my fees since my dad could not afford it.” Due to his outstanding academic performance he proceeded to Government African School, Kakamega in 1951 and completed in 1954. Out of sheer hard work he passed the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate with grade 1 and was admitted in Makerere University College where he sat for the London Examinations and in 1957 he was selected to take a BA programme at the London University. He was awarded Archer-Sturrock Prize at the University for being the best student in the London University Preliminary Examination at Makerere University College; Kampala Uganda .He completed his BA degree with Honours in 1960 and was awarded a Kenyan Government Scholarship to study in Britain for an advanced degree programme.
“I vividly remember my mentors - Prof David Wasawo, Prof Kenneth Baker, Prof Francis Ojany, and Prof Simeon Hongo Ominde. These are just but a few of the people who molded me to be what I am today,” said Prof Odingo. In 1960 and 1963, Prof. Odingo continued with his postgraduate at University of Liverpool. He registered for a master degree but he was exempted because of his academic excellence and was upgraded to the PhD Programme. He had done a first-rate study in his field research on “Aspects of Agricultural Geography of the Kenya Highlands” it was so impressive in content and methodology for a master degree that his Professor recommended that it should be upgraded to a PhD programme. As a result Prof Odingo obtained his degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Geography in June 1963 in a record time of three years. This was such a feat that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) thought it fit to make news out of it; a month later he was offered a job as a lecturer in Geography at Makerere University College in Uganda.
Prof. Odingo, a renowned Professor of Geography has a wide range of experience in lecturing both in Kenya and overseas. He was appointed Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Nairobi in 1969, Associate Professor in 1975 and a Professor of Geography in 1987. In 1970 Prof Odingo was awarded a Rock feller Foundation Fellowship, which enabled him to proceed in a visiting capacity to the University College Of London; before proceeding to Food Research Institute of Stanford University in California where he taught and carried out research. He also served as a senior programme officer and later officer in charge, Natural Resources Programme in Tokyo Japan. His varied experience and international exposure have enriched his teaching and research at the University. During his stay at the UNU in Japan he established the Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (INRA).
Prof Odingo is a seasoned scholar, and has made contributions to critical issues such as land tenure. His areas of interest are in the development and implementation of a resettlement policy to end land conflicts and other issues. He has also handled the issues of drought and governance with an inclination on water resource conflict. Prof Odingo has also made notable contribution at the regional level through consultancy to bodies such as the Economic Commission of Africa, IDRC,FAO,UNDP and World Bank attached to the US Department of Energy and a review editor of many books journals on topics of peace ,security ,disease and food security all impacted by climate change. For the last ten years he has been the National Chair of Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change.
Currently, Prof Odingo is a professor of Geography in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Nairobi. Apart from the scholarly cloaks that Professor Odingo wears, he is also a family man married to Dr.Alice Odingo who teaches at the same University. Of his wife he says, “she is industrious and diligent scholar and very supportive of her husband’s work.” He is a father of four children and a grandfather. Professor attributes his success to his supportive family.
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