Kwame Antwi Oduro (PhD)

Position: Director / Principal Research Scientist
Senior Lecturer, CSIR-College of Science and Technology (CCST)
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Tel:  +233-242867168 / +233-503975546
Professional fields of Interest
Natural resources management, forest policy and governance, forest resource development

Professional Background

PhD  Forest Ecology and Forest Management, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
MSc. Forestry and its Relations to Land Use, University of Oxford, UK
BSc.  Natural Resources Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Personal Profile

Dr Kwame Antwi Oduro is a Principal Research Scientist with the CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana and Head of the Forest Policy, Governance and Livelihoods Division. He is also a Deputy Programme Coordinator for the MPhil Programme in Climate Change and Integrated Natural Resources Management at the CSIR College of Science and Technology (CCST) and a Senior Lecturer in Natural Resource Governance at the College. He has vast experience in research projects and consultancies in natural resources governance and policy, management of forest resources in agricultural landscapes, forest resource development, forest transitions, and REDD+ and climate change issues.

He is also experienced in stakeholder engagements and dialogues at all levels. He has obtained research and consultancy grants from both internal and external sources including ITTO, IUCN, UNDP, SNV, INBAR, CIFOR, Unilever Ghana, Forestry Commission, Tropenbos International, the World Bank (through the Forestry Commission, Ghana), Nature and Development Foundation, Newmont Ghana Gold Limited. He has been actively engaged in teaching and other academic assignments, including supervision of masters’ theses and as external examiner at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), KNUST and CCST.

He has been involved in a number of management and leadership roles both within CSIR and other stakeholder institutions. He is experienced in facilitating scientific writing training workshops both locally and internationally. He is an excellent team player with a high sense of commitment to hard work. He is results-oriented, resourceful, approachable, and innovative and has excellent communication skills.

He has to his credit over 30 refereed journal articles, chapters in refereed books, books/handbooks and edited working papers. He also has over 30 research and consultancy (Technical) reports as well as several policy briefs, conference paper abstracts and newsletter articles. He is a reviewer for both local and international peer-reviewed journals.

Selected Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

  1. Andoh J, Oduro K.A., Park, J. and Lee, Y. 2022. Towards REDD+ implementation: Deforestation and forest degradation drivers, REDD+ financing, and readiness activities in participant countries. Frontiers in Forest and Global Change 5:957550. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2022.957550
  2. Obiri, B.D., Abukari, H., Oduro, K.A., Quartey, R.K., Dawoe, E.L.K., Twintoh, J.J. and Opuni-Frimpong, E. 2022. Rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) as a de facto forest common for local communities in Ghana. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 14(1):1-13.
  3. 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 32, e01904.
  4. Obiri, B.D., Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Apetorgbor, M.M., Peprah, T., Duah-Gyamfi, A. and Mensah, J.K. 2021. Farmers’ perceptions of herbicide usage in forest landscape restoration programs in Ghana. Scientific African 11 (2021) e00672.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Obiri, B.D., Abukari, H., Guuroh, R.T., Djagbletey, G.D., Appiah-Korang, J. and Appiah, M. 2019. Impact of illegal mining activities on forest ecosystem services: local communities’ attitudes and willingness to participate in restoration activities in Ghana. Heliyon 5(10):1-11.
  8. Kumeh, E.M., Kyereh, B., Oduro, K.A., Brobbey, L.K. and Nketiah, S.K. 2019. Transparency in the governance of landscape restoration finance: A case study of Ghana’s Forest Plantation Development Fund. Scientific African 6.e00185:1-12.
  9. Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A. and Obiri, B.D. 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.
  10. Oduro, K.A., Arts, B., Kyereh, B. and Mohren, G.M.J. 2018. Farmers' motivations to plant and manage on-farm trees in Ghana. Small-scale Forestry 17(3): 393-410.
  11. Oduro, K.A., Mohren, G.M.J., Peña-Claros, M., Kyereh, B., Arts, B. 2015. Tracing forest resource development in Ghana through forest transition pathways. Land Use Policy 48: 63–72.
  12. Oduro, K.A., Arts, B., Kyereh B., Hoogstra-Klein, M.A. and Mohren, G.M.J. 2014. Exploring the future of timber resources in the high forest zone of Ghana. International Forestry Review 16 (6):573-585.
  13. Oduro, K.A., Mohren, G.M.J., Affum-Baffoe, K. and Kyereh, B. 2014. Trends in timber production systems in the high forest zone of Ghana. International Forestry Review16 (3): 289-300.

 Book Chapters

  1. Addo-Danso, S.D., Guuroh, R.T., Oduro, K.A., Abukari, T., and Foli, E.G. 2020. Forest landscape restoration implementation in Ghana as a socioeconomic opportunity. In: Pinto, S.R.R., Santos, F.C. and Prescott, C. (Eds.). Forest landscape restoration and social opportunities in the tropical world. Centro de Pesquisas Ambientais do Nordeste – CEPAN. Pp 29-51.
  2. Oduro, K.A., Foli, E.G., Mohren, G.M.J. and Dumenu, W.K. 2011. Management for sustainable forestry in other tropical countries: Ghana. In: Werger, M.J.A. (Ed.). Sustainable management of tropical rainforests: the CELOS management system. Tropenbos International, Paramaribo, Suriname. pp 242-254

Books/Handbooks/Working Papers

  1. Foli E., Kant P., Katila P., de Jong W., Kleine M., Oduro K.A., Obeng, E.A., Guuroh R.T., Jayaswal L., Reddy P.V., Saidulu B. 2021. Governance of Forest Landscape Restoration – Analyses of Governance Issues in Cases from Ghana and India. Occasional Paper No. 34. IUFRO. Vienna, Austria. 54 pp.
  2. Obiri, B.D., Oduro, K.A., Obeng, E.A., Pentsil, S. and Appiah-Kubi, E. 2020. Bamboo value chain study – Ghana. INBAR Working paper. International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR). Beijing, China. 115pp.
  3. Oduro, K.A., Obeng. E.A., Abukari, H. and Pentsil, S. 2020. Bamboo policy integration analysis - Ghana. INBAR working paper No. 83. International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR). Beijing, China. 54pp.
  4. Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Seidu, M., Asomaning, G. and Owusu, F.W. 2020. Bottlenecks to supplying legal wood to the domestic market. Handbook. Nature & Development Foundation and Tropenbos International. 64pp.
  5. Agyei, K., Agyeman, V.K., Asante, W.A., Benefoh, T.D., Blaser, J., Damnyag, L., Deppeler, A., Feurer, M., Foli, E.G., Heeb, L., Kofie, W., Klossner, M., Kyereh, B., Kwakye, Y. and Oduro, K.A. 2014. REDD+ in agricultural landscapes: evidence from Ghana's REDD+ process. HAFL and CSIR-FORIG, Kumasi, Ghana. ISBN 978-9988-2-0238-5. 64pp.
  6. 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. 52pp.
  7. Nutakor, E., Samar, B.S., Marfo, E. and Oduro, K.A. 2014. Barriers to sustainability of alternative livelihoods: a case study of a Forest Reserve in Ghana. Tropenbos International, Wageningen, the Netherlands. ISBN 978-90-5113-119-2. 62pp.
  8. Oduro, K.A., Duah-Gyamfi, A., Acquah, S.B. and Agyeman, V.K. 2012.Ghana Forest and Wildlife Handbook, Forestry Commission, Accra, Ghana, ISBN 978-9988-1-4365-7. 102pp.

Awards/Fellowships/Membership of Committees

2012 - Member, Committee set up to review National Forest Plantation Strategy document for Ghana
2011 - European Forest Institute Fellowship to attend improving forest governance course.University of Wolverhampton, Telford Campus, United Kingdom
2011 - Member, CSIR-FORIG Change Management Team
2008 - Member, Committee set up to Review Ghana Journal of Forestry
2005 - Member, Scientific and Organising Committee for Tropenbos International Conference
2000 - Association of Merchants Builders Fellowship for Masters degree programme at Oxford Forestry Institute, University of Oxford, UK

About us

Forestry Research Institute of Ghana is one of the 13 institutes of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). It is located at Fumesua near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It started as a research unit within the Forestry Department in 1962. It was fully established as a research institute and named FOREST PRODUCTS RESEARCH INSTITUTE (FPRI) under the then Ghana Academy of Sciences in 1964 and in 1968 placed under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Contact us

The Director
Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, P. O. Box UP 63 KNUST
Kumasi, Ghana

Tel :+233-(0)3220-60123/60373
Fax :+233-(0)3220-60121
Email : [email protected]