Dr. John Mudekwe

Dr. John Mudekwe is the Research & Development and Carbon Manager at 3T Ghana, where he leads the organisation’s research agenda and carbon strategy. He also currently stands as the Forestry Lead for the Community Native Ecosystem Restoration Project in Agogo, Ashanti Region. Dr Mudekwe drives the design of evidence-based restoration models for degraded landscapes, ensuring projects maximise carbon generation while delivering biodiversity and community benefits.

He brings over 20 years of experience in forestry, natural resource management, and landscape restoration, with expertise in forestry research, tree breeding, plantation establishment and management, restoration planning, and carbon quantification and modelling. He combines strong technical knowledge with experience in data management, skills transfer, and leading multidisciplinary teams.

Before joining 3T, Dr. Mudekwe held senior leadership, research, and academic roles across Africa. He served as Area Manager for Zimbabwe’s Forestry Commission, overseeing more than 180,000 hectares of indigenous State Forest Reserves, and later coordinated community-based forest management initiatives in the same landscape. He also worked as Principal Research Officer in silviculture, Senior Lecturer at the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe, and R&D and Restoration Lead across plantation forestry operations in Mozambique, Ghana, and Sierra Leone. In addition, he has undertaken forestry, restoration, and climate-related consultancies for the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Ford Foundation, and national governments, and has led major assignments including national climate change reporting and large-scale forest restoration strategy development.

Dr Mudekwe has a Diploma in Forestry from the Zimbabwe College of Forestry. After receiving his BSc in Forestry from University of North Wales–Bangor in the UK, he continued on to attain a MSc in Resource Conservation Biology from the University of Witwatersrand, and a PhD in Forestry from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

His work is driven by a deep commitment to the interconnectedness of forests, people, biodiversity, and climate. He is motivated by advancing restoration solutions that strengthen ecosystems while improving livelihoods and long-term resilience.