{"id":16680,"date":"2026-06-20T12:52:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:52:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:52:40","slug":"iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_2564\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\">\n\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2564\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"226\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2564\" \/>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2564\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Olukunle Olasupo, IITA Forest Unit<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nIITA Forest Unit field supervisor Olukunle Olasupo or Kunle, is the 2017 recipient of the March Christian Award of the prestigious Botanic Gardens Conservation International (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgci.org\/\"><u>BGCI<\/u><\/a>). The award recognizes him for his relentless contribution to Plant Conservation in botanic gardens. This award comes with a cash prize of \u00a31,000 and a Certificate.\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/iita-staff\/bown-deni\/\"><u>Deni Bown<\/u><\/a>, Head, IITA Forest Unit, who nominated Kunle for the award says of Kunle:\n\n\u201c\u2026<em>Kunle\u2019s interest and expertise in collecting fruits, extracting and sowing seeds is outstanding, as evidenced by the Forest Unit\u2019s successful propagation of 137 indigenous tree species of which 28 are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List, including the critically endangered endemic\u00a0<\/em>Cola nigerica\u00a0<em>Brenan &amp; Keay.<\/em>\u00a0<em>His skills and commitment are crucial in developing Nigeria\u2019s first arboretum for ex situ conservation of threatened trees, and in guidance and capacity building for staff, conservation partners, teachers, students, and postgraduates. Kunle never misses an opportunity to explain the importance of trees in conserving biodiversity and providing the basics for sustaining human lives. Whatever someone has in mind when visiting the nursery or enquiring about trees, they are persuaded to plant Nigeria\u2019s trees for Nigerian people!<\/em>\u201d\n\nDeni officially accepted the award on Kunle\u2019s behalf during the award presentation ceremony at the Global Botanic Garden Congress in Geneva on 30 June. Congratulations, Kunle! IITA is proud of you!","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IITA Forest Unit field supervisor Olukunle Olasupo or Kunle, is the 2017 recipient of the March Christian Award of the prestigious Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16681,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[1900],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[195],"class_list":["post-16680","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-iita-news-no-2387","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","item-year-195"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award - IITA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IITA Forest Unit field supervisor Olukunle Olasupo or Kunle, is the 2017 recipient of the March Christian Award of the prestigious Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IITA.CGIAR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-29T18:52:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"231\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"226\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@IITA_CGIAR\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\\\/\",\"name\":\"IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award - IITA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-20T12:52:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-29T18:52:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg\",\"width\":231,\"height\":226},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/news-item\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"IITA\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"International Institute of Tropical Agriculture\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/IITA-Logo-finalll.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/IITA-Logo-finalll.png\",\"width\":1788,\"height\":591,\"caption\":\"International Institute of Tropical Agriculture\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iita.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/IITA.CGIAR\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/IITA_CGIAR\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/iita\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/IITAPUBLISHING\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award - IITA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award - IITA","og_description":"IITA Forest Unit field supervisor Olukunle Olasupo or Kunle, is the 2017 recipient of the March Christian Award of the prestigious Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).","og_url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/","og_site_name":"IITA","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IITA.CGIAR","article_modified_time":"2026-06-29T18:52:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":231,"height":226,"url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@IITA_CGIAR","twitter_misc":{"Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/","name":"IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award - IITA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-20T12:52:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-29T18:52:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Olukunle-Olasupo-IITA-Forest-Unit.jpg","width":231,"height":226},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/iita-forest-unit-staff-gets-international-award\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/iita.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/iita.org\/news-item\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/","name":"IITA","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/iita.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#organization","name":"Institut International d'Agriculture Tropicale","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IITA-Logo-finalll.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IITA-Logo-finalll.png","width":1788,"height":591,"caption":"International Institute of Tropical Agriculture"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iita.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IITA.CGIAR","https:\/\/x.com\/IITA_CGIAR","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/iita","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/IITAPUBLISHING"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24340,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16680\/revisions\/24340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=16680"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=16680"}],"curies":[{"name":"bien jou\u00e9","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}