Prof. Erasmus Owusu is a Conservation Scientist with over 26 years of functional experience in biodiversity management in academia and the NGO sector. He has rich experience in biodiversity project management managing, and providing technical services in, several biodiversity conservation projects funded by the UNDP and the World Bank. Prof. Owusu was the team leader of the Ghana’s component of the Important Bird Areas project, which documented areas critical for bird conservation across the country. His areas of expertise are Biodiversity Management and Planning; Ornithology; Environmental Impact Assessment; Ecotourism as a conservation Tool; and, Climate Change and Ecosystems services. He has lectured in Conservation Biology, Animal Ecology, Wildlife Management, wetland ecology among others at undergraduate and graduate levels at the University Ghana. He was a member of the National Biodiversity Committee and was part of the team that developed the National Biodiversity Strategy for Ghana. At the international level, Prof Owusu was the representative of Western Africa on the Technical Committee of the African Euro-Asian Waterbird Agreement(AEWA) from 2012-2018. He has been a member of the Global Council of BirdLife International (UK) and the African Regional Committee of BirdLife International; and was Chair of the Council of African Partners of BirdLife International between 2005 and 2006.
Prof. Owusu holds a PhD in biodiversity management from the Durell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) of the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK; a BSc. in Natural Resources Management from the Institute of Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST); and a Postgraduate Certificate in Biodiversity Monitoring and Assessment from the Smithsonian Institution in the USA. He is affiliated with the Department of Animal Science and Conservation Biology, University of Ghana, and is the current Director for the University of Ghana Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies.