Dr. Elizabeth Asantewaa Obeng is a principal research scientist and the head of the Forest Policy Governance and Livelihoods Division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (CSIR-FORIG). She holds a PhD. in Natural Resources (Forest Resource Economics and Policy) from the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America. Her research focuses on the application of economic principles to understand the human dimensions and natural resource interactions regarding conservation and management of natural resources, and sustainable livelihoods.

The scope of her work includes field-based research, conducting baseline surveys, feasibility studies and impact assessment studies, commodity value and supply chain studies, economic valuation of ecosystem services, economic evaluation (e.g. cost benefit analysis, cost effectiveness analysis), policy analysis and evaluation, livelihood and gender mainstreaming analyses and project monitoring and evaluation. She serves as an external assessor for graduate students’ theses for various universities including Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), CSIR College of Science and Technology (CCST) and University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR).

She also serves as external supervisor for graduate (Masters & PhD) students from both local and international universities. She serves on the Editorial board of the Ghana Journal of Forestry and on various committees within and outside the CSIR. She is a member of Research Staff Association of CSIR, Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and Ghana Science Association (GSA).

1. Oduro, K. A., Obeng, E. A., Abukari, H., Guuroh, R. T., Andoh, J., Mensah, E. S., ... & Louman, B. (2024). Local communities’ adaptation strategies for reducing vulnerabilities to climate change in cocoa-forest dominated landscapes in Ghana. GeoJournal, 89(2), 61.

2. Andoh, J., Martey, E., Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Salimath, P. and Lee, Y., (2024). Safeguarding Local communities for REDD+ implementation in Ghana. Forests, 15(8), p.1349.

3. Osei, B., Abugre, S., Obeng, E. A., Afrifa, A. B., Ofori, I., & Adams, M. R. (2023). Prospects of payment for ecosystem services: A case for teak and cashew plantation development in Ghana. African Crop Science Journal, 31(2), 239-262.

4. Adu-Baffour, F., Daum, T.,Obeng, E. A.., Birner, R., & Bosch, C. (2023). Making land rehabilitation projects work in small-scale mining areas: Insights from a case study in Ghana. Hohenheim Working Papers on Social and Institutional Change in Agricultural Development. 015-2023. University of Hohenheim. https://490c.uni-hohenheim.de/en/75736

5. Henry Throp, Sebastian Angzoorokuu Paalo, Kwame Antwi Oduro, Elizabeth Asantewaa Obeng, Reginald Tang Guuroh, Jewel Andoh, Abdul Boudiaf and Thiago Kanashiro Uehara. 2023. Net-zero’s nature knot: A tug of war with rural realities.
https://forestgovernance.chathamhouse.org/publications/net-zeros-nature-knot-a-tug-of-war-with-rural-realities

6. Opuni-Frimpong, N. Y., Essel, H. B., Opuni-Frimpong, E., & Obeng, E. A. (2022). Sustainable Development Goal for Education: Teachers’ Perspectives on Climate Change Education in Senior High Schools (SHS). Sustainability, 14(13), 8086.

7. Obeng, E. A., Darko Obiri, B., Oduro, K.A., Frimpong, A. and Foli, G.E. 2022. The Impact of Agrochemical Usage on Cocoa Farms: Implications on Livelihoods and Cocoa Landscape Management. CSIR-FORIG/FIP Technical Report

8. Obeng, E. A., Dakurah, I., Oduro, K. A., Obiri, B. D., 2021. Local communities’ preferences and economic values for ecosystem services from Mole National Park in Ghana: A choice experiment approach. Global Ecology and Conservation e01904

9. Obeng, E. A., Obiri, B.D., Oduro, K.A., Pentsil, S., Anglaaere, L.C.N., Foli, E.G. and Ofori, D.A. 2020. Economic value of non-market ecosystem services derived from trees on cocoa farms. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 2(100019): 1-15.

10. Oduro, K.A., Damnyag, L., Abukari, H., Abbey, A., Obeng, E. A., Twumasi-Ankra, A. and Foli, E.G. 2020. Livelihood assets and predicted effects of REDD+ implementation in farming communities in the transition and high forest zones of Ghana. Ghana Journal of Forestry, 36(1): 34 – 57.

11. Obeng, E. A., Oduro, K.A. and Darko Obiri, B. 2019. Application of the theory of planned behavior in predicting US residents’ willingness to pay to restore degraded tropical rainforest watersheds. Journal of Sustainable Development 12 (6): 62-81

12. Darko Obiri, B, Obeng, E. A., Nunoo, I, Peprah, T. and Opuni Frimpong, E. 2018. Financial analysis of fuelwood production from woodlots in the Savanna Transition Zone of Ghana. Ghana Journal of Forestry, 34 (1), 58-72.

13. Aguilar, F.X., Obeng, E. A., & Cai, Z. 2018. Water quality improvements elicit consistent willingness-to-pay for the enhancement of forested watershed ecosystem services. Ecosystem Services, 30, 158-171.

14. Obeng, E. A. Aguilar, F.X. and McCann L.M. 2018. Payments for forest ecosystem services: a look at neglected existence values, the free-rider problem and beneficiaries’ willingness to pay. International Forestry Review 20(2), 2018

15. Obeng, E. A. and Aguilar, F.X. 2018. Value orientation and payment for ecosystem services: Perceived detrimental consequences lead to willingness-to-pay for ecosystem services. Journal of Environmental Management 206C (2018): 458-471.

16. Dumenu, W.K. and Obeng, E. A. 2016. Climate change and rural communities in Ghana: Social vulnerability, impacts, adaptations and policy implications. Environmental Science & Policy 55: 208-217.

17. Obeng, E. A. and Aguilar, F.X. 2015. Marginal effects on biodiversity, carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling of transitions from tropical forests to cacao farming systems. Agroforestry Systems 89 (1): 19-35.

18. Obeng, E. A. and Weber, M. 2014. Socio-economic factors affecting agroforestry adoption by smallholder farmers in Ghana. Ghana Journal of Forestry 30 (1): 43-60.

19. Obiri, B.D., Agyeman, V.K., Kyereh, B., Nutakor, E., Obeng, E. A., Agyeman, A. and Acquah, S.B. 2011. Perception and participation of local communities in tree planting initiatives in northern Ghana. Ghana Journal of Forestry 27 (3): 80-93.

20. Obeng, E. A., Kobina, J.K. and Pentsil, S. 2011. Carving out indigenous tree species to sustain rural livelihood. Ghana Journal of Forestry 27 (2): 85-96.

21. Obeng, E. A. Marfo, E., Nelson, O., and Nantwi, G.B. 2014. Assessment of the Effectiveness of Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue. Tropenbos International, Wageningen, the Netherlands, ISBN: 978-90-5113-117-8, 82pp.

22. Obiri, B.D., Nunoo, I., Obeng, E. A., Owusu, F.W. and Marfo, E. 2014. The charcoal industry in Ghana: An alternative livelihood option for displaced illegal chanisaw lumber producers. Tropenbos International, Wageningen, the Netherlands, ISBN: 978-90-5113-122-2, 132pp.

23. Beeko, C., Oduro, K.A. and Obeng, E. A. 2014. Development assistance in the forestry sector: impacts over the last two decades and implications for the future. CSIR-FORIG, Kumasi, Ghana. ISBN: 978-9988-2-0206-4, xii+42pp.

PhD Natural Resources (Forest Resource Economics and Policy)
University of Missouri, Columbia, USA (2014-2017).

MSc Sustainable Resource Management (Environmental and Natural Resource Economics; Forest Protection and Ecosystem Management)
Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany (2005 – 2007).

BSc Agriculture (Agricultural Economics and Farm Management)
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana (1999– 2003)

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Socio-economics, Agricultural economics.

economic valuation of ecosystem services, policy analysis and evaluation, livelihood and gender mainstreaming, baseline surveys, feasibility and impact assessment studies, commodity value and supply chain studies.

2022-present
Principal Research Scientist, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Forestry Research Institute of Ghana.

2020- 2022
Senior Research Scientist, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research -Forestry Research Institute of Ghana.

May-July 2017
Research Consultant, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA.

2014 – 2016
Teaching Assistant, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA

2009 -2020
Research Scientist Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Forestry Research Institute of Ghana.

2008 -2009
Forest Programme Assistant, World Wide Fund for nature; WWF – West Africa Forest Programme Office, Accra, Ghana.

2003-2005 Assistant Regional Officer, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, West Africa Anglophone Regional Office, CSIR-FORIG, Kumasi.

No positions posted.

No Professional/Teaching Experience posted.

2014 - 2017
Frieda Yeo Fellowship at the University of Missouri, Columbia-Missouri, USA for PhD studies at the School of Natural Resources, Department of Forestry, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA.

2011
European Forest Institute Fellowship to attend improving forest governance course. University of Wolverhampton, Telford Campus, United Kingdom.

2012
USDA Norman Borlaug Fellowship Award Program for mentorship training at the University of Missouri, Department of Forestry, College of Agriculture and Food and Natural Resources.

2009 Award/Fellowship to attend the International DAAD‐Alumni Summer School at the University of Greifswald, Germany.

2005-2007
Katholische Academishe Auslande Dienst (www.kaad.de) Scholarship for MSc degree program in German.

Swedish Agriculture University-CSIR-FORIG. Climate off-farm rippled impacts on wellbeing and behavioral resilience: cocoa value-added chains in West Africa

CSIR-FORIG The Impact of Agrochemical Usage on Cocoa Farms: Implications on Livelihoods and Cocoa Landscape Management. CSIR-FORIG/FIP

Swedish Agriculture University-CSIR-FORIG. Gender Equality and Climate Resilience of West African Cocoa-Dependent Households.

USDA-University of Missouri/CSIR-FORIG- Documenting Impacts of Artisanal Mining and Land Clearing on Cocoa Cultivation in Ghana.

No achievement posted.

Research Staff Association of CSIR

Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)

Ghana Science Association (GSA

Forestry Research Network of sub-Saharan Africa (FORNESSA)

International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO