George Ashiagbor
Department of Wildlife and Range ManagementLife SciencesPhysical SciencesHealth SciencesSocial Sciences

George Ashiagbor

43 Publications28 Research Themes25 Open Access
Research Overview & Focus

The researcher's work integrates a comprehensive exploration of land use dynamics and ecosystem responses using advanced remote sensing technologies. This integrated approach allows for a detailed analysis of various ecological challenges such as water cycle variations, fire impact on wetlands, soil erosion, and Cocoa land transformations. The integration of GIS and machine learning tools enhances our understanding of these complex systems across different regions in Ghana, addressing critical issues like water cycle dynamics, fire risks, and soil erosion. Additionally, the study examines cocoa land transformation impacts on tree distribution and richness, cocoa farmers' livelihoods, urban development challenges faced by cocoa farmers, and cocoa mining's ecological implications. Furthermore, it highlights cocoa transformations' effects on vegetation structure and their impact on forest ecosystems in the Keta Lagoon basin. This research underscores the importance of sustainable agriculture and land management strategies to support food security and environmental balance.

Faculty Biography

Dr. George Ashiagbor is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He is a GIS and Remote Sensing Analyst, and his research interests revolve around using Remote Sensing and GIS tools to study landscape-level changes and the interactions between humans and the environment. He is particularly interested in the assessment of deforestation, forest monitoring, landscape ecology, conservation, land use/cover change, natural resource management, environmental modelling, and environmental systems, which serve as a basis for landscape planning.Dr. Ashiagbor has been actively involved in developing methodologies for accurately mapping Ghana's landscape using Remote Sensing approaches. He was the Remote Sensing technical lead for the Forest 2020 Ghana project, a collaboration between the Forestry Commission of Ghana and Ecometrica, a UK Space Agency-funded project to develop approaches for segregating cocoa from forest. Additionally, Dr. Ashiagbor has led several land use land cover mapping and analysis activities in Ghana, with a primary focus on mapping and analysing commodities (cocoa, oil palm, and rubber) driven deforestation. With his extensive research conducted in the cocoa-forest mosaic landscape of Ghana, he has made significant contributions to the discussions around the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Dr. Ashiagbor has conducted research on a range of topics, including land use and cover change, forest monitoring, deforestation assessment, landscape ecology, conservation, environmental modelling, and natural resource management. He has been the Principal Investigator for four granted projects and Remote Sensing lead for three other funded projects. His expertise and contributions to the field are widely recognised and respected. Dr. Ashiagbor is currently collaborating with the CSIR-Soil Research Institute in Ghana to develop a framework supported by remote-sensing technology. This framework aims to incentivize site-specific agronomic management of smallholder cocoa farms. The project, named FRAME-Cocoa, is funded by the African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI).

Key Research Themes (28)
Life Sciences

African Botany and Ecology Studies

Life Sciences

Agricultural Innovations and Practices

Life Sciences

Agricultural risk and resilience

Physical Sciences

Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies

Physical Sciences

Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics

Life Sciences

Cocoa and Sweet Potato Agronomy

Physical Sciences

Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management

Physical Sciences

Energy and Environment Impacts

Physical Sciences

Fire effects on ecosystems

Physical Sciences

Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology

Health Sciences

Global Maternal and Child Health

Health Sciences

Hepatitis C virus research

Physical Sciences

Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes

Physical Sciences

Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies

Physical Sciences

Ichthyology and Marine Biology

Life Sciences

Innovations in Aquaponics and Hydroponics Systems

Life Sciences

Land Rights and Reforms

Physical Sciences

Land Use and Ecosystem Services

Physical Sciences

Mercury impact and mitigation studies

Physical Sciences

Mining and Resource Management

Health Sciences

Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

Physical Sciences

Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications

Physical Sciences

Remote Sensing in Agriculture

Physical Sciences

Soil and Land Suitability Analysis

Life Sciences

Soil erosion and sediment transport

Social Sciences

Urban and Rural Development Challenges

Physical Sciences

Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Physical Sciences

Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation

Publications (43)

A remote sensing approach for mapping teak (Tectona grandis) using vegetation phenology in Ghana's forest-savannah transition zone

Open Access

Contrasting soil temperature and moisture dynamics across urban greenspaces in Accra, Ghana: seasonal patterns and implications for urban cooling in coastal tropical West African cities

Open Access
2025Urban and Rural Development ChallengesDOI: 10.5194/icuc12-693

Can Ghana's Cocoa Forest REDD+ program achieve its intended goals of promoting sustainable cocoa production and enhancing carbon stocks?

2025Cocoa and Sweet Potato AgronomyDOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125376

Cocoa eats the food: can land-sparing save farmers’ food self-sufficiency in Ghana?

2025Land Rights and ReformsDOI: 10.1007/s10708-025-11340-6

Mapping the Paths of Giants: A <scp>GIS</scp>‐Based Habitat Connectivity Model for Forest Elephant Conservation in a West African Forest Block

Open Access
2025Wildlife-Road Interactions and ConservationDOI: 10.1111/aje.70028

The Trade-Off between Cocoa and Small-Scale Gold Mining: A Spatial and Socio-Economic Analysis

Open Access
2025Mining and Resource ManagementDOI: 10.2139/ssrn.5249600

Analysis of the Impact of Agriculture and Logging on Forest Habitat Structure in the Ankasa and Bia Conservation Area of Ghana

Open Access
2024Cocoa and Sweet Potato AgronomyDOI: 10.1002/ece3.70712

Assessing land use change from food croplands to rubber in Ghana's Ellembelle district: Implications for food self-sufficiency

Open Access
2024Agricultural Innovations and PracticesDOI: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2024.e02433

Ecohydrological risk assessment model for the Pra River Basin using GIS and multi-criteria decision making

2024Hydrology and Watershed Management StudiesDOI: 10.1080/15715124.2024.2411237

Nitrogen enrichment does not adversely affect exchangeable bases in rainfed urban arable soils of Kumasi, a tropical West African city

Open Access
2024Soil and Land Suitability AnalysisDOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.116864

Replication Data for: Analysis of landscape structure changes in Ankasa and Bia conservation area of Ghana

Open Access
2023Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource ManagementDOI: 10.7910/dvn/y3wwmb

Assessment of machine learning classifiers in mapping the cocoa-forest mosaic landscape of Ghana

Open Access
2023Cocoa and Sweet Potato AgronomyDOI: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2023.e01718

Demography and reproductive seasonality of small terrestrial mammals in two forest ecosystems in Ghana

2023Animal Ecology and Behavior StudiesDOI: 10.1111/aje.13137

Mangrove plantation and fuelwood supply chain dynamics in the Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site, Ghana

2023Energy and Environment ImpactsDOI: 10.1007/s11273-022-09906-z

Agri-driven habitat modification and small mammal species assemblage nexus in the Atewa Range and Bimpong Forest Reserves, Ghana

Open Access
2022Wildlife Ecology and ConservationDOI: 10.1016/j.tfp.2022.100335

Monitoring cocoa-driven deforestation: The contexts of encroachment and land use policy implications for deforestation free cocoa supply chains in Ghana

2022Cocoa and Sweet Potato AgronomyDOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2022.102788

Cashew expansion holds potential for carbon stocks enhancement in the forest-savannah transitional zone of Ghana

2022Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource ManagementDOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106318

Odonata as bioindicator for monitoring anthropogenic disturbance of Owabi wetland sanctuary, Ghana

2022Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecologyDOI: 10.1080/01650424.2022.2108844

Analyzing Variations in Size and Intensities in Land Use Dynamics for Sustainable Land Use Management: A Case of the Coastal Landscapes of South-Western Ghana

Open Access
2022Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesDOI: 10.3390/land11060815

Evaluation of the shark fisheries along the Coastline of Ghana, West Africa

2022Ichthyology and Marine BiologyDOI: 10.1016/j.rsma.2022.102434

Analysis and prediction of land use land cover dynamics in the Kpeshie Lagoon Basin of Ghana using satellite remote sensing

Open Access
2022Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesDOI: 10.56049/jghie.v23i1.64

Cocoa eats the food: expansion of cocoa into food croplands in the Juabeso District, Ghana

2021Cocoa and Sweet Potato AgronomyDOI: 10.1007/s12571-021-01227-y

Aquaponics for Improved Food Security in Africa: A Review

Open Access
2021Innovations in Aquaponics and Hydroponics SystemsDOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.705549

Mangrove mapping using Sentinel-1 data for improved decision support on sustainable conservation and restoration interventions in the Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site, Ghana

2021Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamicsDOI: 10.1071/mf20105

Pixel-based and object-oriented approaches in segregating cocoa from forest in the Juabeso-Bia landscape of Ghana

2020Remote Sensing in AgricultureDOI: 10.1016/j.rsase.2020.100349

Measures of geographic accessibility to health care in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Open Access
2020Global Maternal and Child HealthDOI: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2020.e00453

Urbanization, land use transformation and spatio-environmental impacts: Analyses of trends and implications in major metropolitan regions of Ghana

2020Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesDOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104707

Farmers Demographic and Socio-Economic Survey in the Juabeso District of Ghana

Open Access
2020Agricultural risk and resilienceDOI: 10.17632/8myrry8sws.1

Monitoring Cocoa Expansion into Croplands in Ghana Cocoa Forest Mosaic Landscape: A Case Study of Juabeso District

Open Access
2020Cocoa and Sweet Potato AgronomyDOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.11889963

Toward sustainable land resources management with agroforestry: empirical evidence from the Sunyani west district of Ghana

2019African Botany and Ecology StudiesDOI: 10.1007/s10457-019-00419-y

The Clinical Importance of the Mercury Problem in Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining

Open Access
2019Mercury impact and mitigation studiesDOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00131

Landscape Transformations in Rapidly Developing Peri-urban Areas of Accra, Ghana: Results of 30 years

Open Access
2019Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesDOI: 10.1515/geo-2019-0014

Quantifying Recent Floodplain Vegetation Change along the White Volta River in the Northern Region of Ghana

2019Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes

Assessing the Potential of Image Segmentation on Google Earth Images for Carbon Estimation across Rubber Plantations of Different Ages

Open Access
2018Remote Sensing and LiDAR ApplicationsDOI: 10.24940/theijst/2018/v6/i12/st1812-017

Urban land transformations and its implication on tree abundance distribution and richness in Kumasi, Ghana

Open Access
2018Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesDOI: 10.1093/jue/juy019

Watching the Smoke Rise Up: Thermal Efficiency, Pollutant Emissions and Global Warming Impact of Three Biomass Cookstoves in Ghana

Open Access
2017Energy and Environment ImpactsDOI: 10.3390/en10050641

Watching the Smoke Rise Up: Thermal Efficiency, Pollutant Emissions and Global Warming Impact of Three Biomass Cookstoves in Ghana

Open Access
2017Energy and Environment ImpactsDOI: 10.20944/preprints201704.0164.v1

Seasonal habitat use by Elephants (<i>Loxodonta africana</i>) in the Mole National Park of Ghana

Open Access
2017Wildlife Ecology and ConservationDOI: 10.1002/ece3.2962

Anthropometric Profiles of Child-bearing Women in Ghana — Past Measurements and Future Trends

Open Access
2017Obesity, Physical Activity, DietDOI: 10.2174/1874944501710010032

Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus in Ghana: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Open Access
2016Hepatitis C virus researchDOI: 10.1186/s12879-016-1708-7

Modelling Soil Erosion in the Densu River Basin Using RUSLE and GIS Tools.

2014Soil erosion and sediment transport

MODELING SOIL EROSION USING RUSLE AND GIS TOOLS

2013Soil erosion and sediment transport

Modelling the Spatial Interactions of Biophysical Factors Associated with the likelihood of wildfires in the Sunyani West District of Ghana

2013Fire effects on ecosystems
Academic Metrics
DepartmentDepartment of Wildlife and Range Management
Total Publications43
Research Themes28
Open Access Papers25

Department of Wildlife and Range Management

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

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