Two events: Round table on the theme “Green Future for Africa”) at the FES on 26 November and award ceremony on 27 November at Allianz Forum highlighted two Tanzanian (Gerard Bigurube) and Malagasy (Clovis Razafimalala) winners. The award ceremony of the German Foundation for Africa 2018 was widely honoured by civil society, representatives of the German official authorities, political and economic actors, African embassies, representatives of the Malagasy diaspora and actors on the ground.
In addition to the award ceremony itself, which was presented to the winners by the President of the German Federal Parliament, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, the ceremony provided a platform for exchange and appeal, raising awareness of joint actions to defend protected species and conserve biodiversity, nature and the environment, which are no less priority areas of German cooperation in Madagascar.
The evening of November 27 was hosted by the renowned Malagasy artist Eric Manana, accompanied by Jenny Fuhr and two other Malagasy musicians from the Troupe. Three of their songs: “Voninkazo adaladala”, “Zakelina”, “Tambazako” were enough to enchant the audience. A number of Malagasy, apart from the “ray aman-dreny”, association presidents living in Berlin, also came from afar to encourage one of their own who was in the spotlight: Munich, Göttingen, Bonn. German officials also came from other cities in the same vein.
The importance of environmental education was stressed, as well as the allocation of adequate resources for conservation, and more specifically the commitment and political will of States to safeguard natural resources, biodiversity and the ecosystem.
