Phone us directly: +233 201 180 080 or +233 554 417 276

P.O. Box UP979, KNUST Kumasi, Ghana

Bright Obeng Kankam (PhD)

Founder & CEO

Dr. Bright Kankam is the founder and CEO of Nature’s Services and Solutions Limited, as well as Nature’s Services and Support LBG. He is a primatologist and a conservation scientist. His interests focus on primate ecology, animal behaviour, biodiversity management (especially in forest and mine sites), and the restoration of ecosystem types to safeguard biodiversity for humanity.

Dr. Bright Kankam is a Senior Research Scientist at the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (CSIR-FORIG). He also doubles as an adjunct assistant professor at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Calgary in Canada. Furthermore, he acts as an internal and external supervisor for graduate studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana. He has a PhD in primatology from the University of Calgary in Canada. He remains a Scientific Committee member of the West African Primate Conservation Action (WAPCA), with the aim to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the conservation needs of the endangered primates of West Africa through a collective and cohesive effort of international and national universities. His research interests include primate ecology, animal behaviour, biodiversity management at mine sites, and the restoration of ecosystem types.

Dr. Kankam has acted as a wildlife monitoring consultant for Newmont Ghana for more than 10 years. He assists the company in assessing how well different wildlife responds to the changing mining environment. He equally develops an adaptive management strategy to mitigate biodiversity threats and reduce potential mortality risks. Over the period of his Adjunct Assistant Professor position (since 2016), Dr. Kankam assists students as an in-country supervisor to allow successful field work and equally enjoy their stay in Ghana. He teaches undergraduate primatology field school on how to collect phonological data, ecological plots, and conduct primate censuses. Also a senior lecturer at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, Dr. Kankam taught wildlife and range management courses and supervised both graduate and undergraduate students to write research proposals, conduct research, and produce theses and publications at KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana.

Projects

Principal Investigator/Consultant

  • Kankam, B.O. (2020-2021). Ahafo South Biodiversity Action Plan. AGREEMENT # MA-00848-2020. 
  • Kankam, B.O. (2019-2022). Wildlife monitoring programme: assessment of wildlife presence, adaptation and wild bird mortality in Akyem mine. AGREEMENT # MA-02348-2019.
  • Kankam, B.O. (2016-2019). Akyem Wildlife Monitoring Program -2016. AGREEMENT # MA-01452-2016.
  • Kankam, B.O. (2017). Vegetation and soil erodibility monitoring of reclaimed sites, Ahafo Gold Operations. AGREEMENT # MA-03090-2017. 
  • Kankam, B.O. (2017). Re-writing of Wildlife Monitoring Plan (Newmont Golden Ridge Limited). AGREEMENT # MA-03404-2017. 
  • Kankam, B.O. (2015). Monitoring of Wildlife Presence and Adaptation at the Akyem Mine, Ghana -2015. AGREEMENT # MA-01655-2015. 
  • Kankam, B.O. (2014). Reforestation Action Plan for Newmont. Funded by Newmont Golden Mining Company-Akyem, Ghana. AGREEMENT # MA-040-2014. 
  • Kankam, B.O. (2014). Biodiversity survey: 60 ha Plantation plot Off Mamang River Forest Reserve. AGREEMENT # MA-00910-2014. 
  • Kankam, B.O. (2013).Wildlife Monitoring: Reducing Entrapment and Road-kills During Mineral Extraction Stage at the Ajenjua Bepo Forest Reserve. AGREEMENT # MA-825-2013. 
  • Kankam, B.O. (2012). Akyem Gold Mining project at Ajenjua Bepo Forest Reserve: Wildlife Survey, Capture and Translocation of Key Wildlife Species (during the Forest Clearance phase). Funded by Newmont Golden Mining Company-Akyem, Ghana. AGREEMENT # GHA-AKY-11-105 (extension).
  • Kankam, B.O. (2011). Akyem Gold Mining project at Ajenjua Bepo Forest Reserve: Wildlife Survey, Capture and Translocation of Key Wildlife Species (prior to Forest Clearance phase). AGREEMENT # GHA-AKY-11-105.
Selected Publications

Badiella-Giménez, N., Kankam, B. O. and Badiella, L. (2021). Influence of Visitors on Time Budget, Ranging and Strata Use of Lowe’s Monkey (Cercopithecus lowei) at Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana. Zoological Studies, 60:51. doi:10.6620/ZS.2021.60-51 

 

Boahen, F. A., Kankam, B. O., Quartey, J. K., and Attuquayefio, D. K. (2021). Altitudinal variation in small mammal distribution on Mountain Afadjato. Science and Development, 4(2):1-10.

 

Amankwah, A. A., Quaye-Ballard, J. A., Koomson, B., Amankwah, R. K., Awotwi, A., Kankam, B. O., Opuni-Frimpong, N. Y., Baah, D. S., Adu-Bredu, S.(2021).Deforestation in forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana: Boabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary. Global Ecology and Conservation, 25, (2012) e01440  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01440

 

Kankam, B.O. and Abukari, H. (2020). Predicting residents’ intention to conserve the hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) in the Birem North District, Ghana. Heliyon 6. doi :https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04966

 

Ofori-Boateng, C., Leaché, A. D., Kankam, B. O., A. Hillers, A. (2018). A new species of puddle frog, genus Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from Ghana. Zootaxa, 4374: 565–578.

 

Kankam, B.O., Saj,T.L. and Sicotte, P.  (2013). Short-term variation in forest dynamics: Increase in tree density in Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana. Ghana Journal of Forestry, 29: 19-33.

 

Kankam, B.O. and Sicotte, P.(2013). The Effect of Forest Fragment Characteristics on Population Density of Colobus vellerosus in the Forest-Savanna Transition Zone of Ghana. Folia Primatologica, 84: 74-86.

 

Kankam, B.O. and Oduro, W. (2011). The impact of frugivory on recruitment in the pantropical forest tree Antiaris toxicaria Leshenault. African Journal of Ecology, 50: 21–28.

 

Kankam, B.O. and Oduro, W. (2009). Frugivores and fruit removal of Antiaris toxicaria (Moraceae) at Bia Biosphere Reserve, Ghana. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 25:1- 4.

 

Beier, P., Drielen, M. and Kankam, B.O. (2002). Avifauna collapse in West African forest fragments. Conservation Biology, 16(4): 1097-1111. 

 

Book Chapter

Kankam, B.O., Saj. T. and Sicotte, P. (2010). How to measure “success” in community-based conservation projects: The case of the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary in Ghana. In: Puplampu, K. P. and Tettey W. J. (Eds.), The public sphere and the politics of survival in Ghana. Woeli Publishing Services, Accra, Ghana. Pp 115-141.