Mr. Kojo Agbenor-Efunam
Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana
Mr Kojo Agbenor-Efunam obtained his Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree in Geological Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 1992, an MSc degree in Petroleum Geoscience from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway in 1998, Post Graduate Diplomas in Petroleum Policy and Resource Management from PETRAD, Stavanger, Norway, in 2012 and Environmental Management from Galilee International Management Institute, Galilee, Israel in 2016. He is also a certified ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems Auditor. Mr Agbenor-Efunam currently heads the Petroleum Department of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a position he has occupied for the past decade. In this capacity, his achievements include, but not limited to, regulating the environmental aspects of upstream oil and gas projects and installations, developing environmental assessment and enforcement guidelines for the upstream oil and gas sector in Ghana, representing the EPA and Ghana at international forums on environmental aspects of oil and gas development, serving as a member of national committees mandated on oil and gas policy and management issues, and drafting of environmental legislation. During the Ghana-Cote D’Ivoire Maritime Dispute at the International Tribunal Law Of Seas (ITLOS), Mr Agbenor-Efunam serves also as a technical witness for Ghana and provided environmental expertise on oil and gas development to the Ghana legal team. Mr Agbenor-Efunam is currently the focal person for Ghana on oil spill contingency planning at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and as such consulted for IMO on oil spill contingency planning training. He is also a consulting expert for the UNEP/Abidjan Convention on Environmental Standards and Norms for oil and gas development in West, Central and Southern Africa Region. Mr Agbenor-Efunam is passionate about the health of the oceans and as such, as part of a team, developed environmental sensitivity atlas for the coastal areas of Ghana in 2004 and also coordinated the environmental baseline and monitoring surveys of Ghana’s coastline and marine environment for the period of 2009 to 2012 under the Norwegian Oil for Development Programme.