Mavis Asare Donkor

Mavis Asare Donkor serves as a board member of the Environmental Protection Authority, the Ghanaian public institution responsible for regulating environmental quality and ensuring that economic development activities comply with environmental standards and safeguards. The EPA's mandate covers environmental impact assessment, environmental permitting, pollution control, and the monitoring and enforcement of environmental regulations across Ghana's rapidly developing economy.

Environmental governance has grown significantly in importance as Ghana's economic activities, including gold mining, oil and gas extraction, infrastructure development, industrial expansion, and urban growth, have placed increasing pressure on the country's natural environment. The EPA's board oversees the institution that serves as the primary check on whether that development is managed in a way that protects Ghana's water bodies, forest cover, air quality, coastal ecosystems, and the health of communities that live alongside these environments.

Donkor's board role at the EPA places her within the governance of an institution that occupies a sometimes contentious position in Ghana's development story: it must enforce environmental standards against economic activities that generate employment, revenue, and political support, often in communities where the immediate economic benefits of development are highly valued. The governance of such an institution requires both the technical understanding to engage with complex environmental science and the institutional perspective to navigate the political economy of environmental regulation in a developing country context.

Her recognition in the 2026 Avance Media Top 100 Women Board Directors ranking confirms her standing among Ghana's significant women in public sector governance. Environmental governance is increasingly recognised as one of the most consequential domains of public sector management, as the decisions made about how economic development is regulated today will shape the natural environment that future generations of Ghanaians inherit.

Her work at the Environmental Protection Authority represents engagement with the governance of an institution whose mandate connects economic development, public health, ecological preservation, and the long-term sustainability of Ghana's natural resource base.