Dr. James Korang is a Science Research Scientist and the current head of Wood Industry and Utilization Division (WIUD), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (CSIR-FORIG). James holds a PhD from the Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of America.

His research interest at CSIR-FORIG is centered around valorization of biomass. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of his research, he has collaborated with He serves as an external assessor for graduate students’ theses for Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Dr. Korang teaches bioenergy systems at CSIR-College of Science and Technology (CCST). He is a member of Research Staff Association of CSIR, Ghana Science Associarion (GSA) and Ghana Chemical Society (GCS). Aside his work at CSIR-FORIG, Dr. Korang is a community man always volunteering to help community members in business, decision making and planning to develop the communities.

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. 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

4. 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

5. 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 Forests and Global Change 5:957550. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2022.957550. (Impact Factor: 4.332).

6. 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) is a de facto forest common for local communities in Ghana. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 14(1):1-13. doi: 10.5897/IJBC2021.1512.

7. 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

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

9. 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.

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

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 (2003 – 2007)

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