Cobus has a diverse academic background in law, conservation and business. He has worked for a number of South African NGO s and for Government. In his role with government, he oversaw the issuing of Records of Decisions. He currently works in the Endangered Wildlife Trusts Drylands Conservation Programme with specific focus on the unique dryland’s habitat and species where he and his team comments on developments in the Karoo. He is a qualified Environmental Management Inspector and licensed drone pilot. He has worked in the environmental sector for 25 years.

Jeanne Tarrant, aka the “Frog Lady”, manages the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Threatened Amphibian Programme (TAP). This is the only NGO with a focus on frog conservation, using threatened species as flagships to:
• protect the critical freshwater and terrestrial habitats
• improve the management of important amphibian habitat
• use research to monitor species and habitats to support conservation action
• promote behavioural change that reflects increased knowledge and recognition of the importance of frogs and their habitats.
Jeanne is responsible for project design and coordination, specialist knowledge, partner and donor relations, fundraising and project management. Almost all of her work is linked to threatened frog species, which are usually associated with very limited distribution ranges and specific habitat types, most of which are not protected or well-managed. In 2020, Jeanne was recipient of the Whitley Award, or “Green Oscar” for her work in conservation.

Gareth completed his undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Cape Town, specialising in Microbiology and Zoology, after which he undertook and completed his postgraduate Honours degree in Zoology at the University of Cape Town. He then joined the Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, where he upgraded his MSc degree in Biological Sciences, to a PhD, which he completed in 2016. For his PhD, he was the recipient of the prestigious Purcell Memorial Award in 2016, for the best dissertation in a zoological subject at the University of Cape Town. His research has assisted him to develop a deep understanding of the mechanisms that drive and maintain biological diversity. Knowledge on the processes that drive and maintain variation is essential for understanding how well species may adapt and cope with future changes in the environment. This is especially important in the light of contemporary and rapid global climate change, habitat degradation and loss, human-wildlife conflict, increasing urbanisation, and their collective threat to biodiversity on a global scale. The skills and experience Gareth gained from his PhD, such as the spatial analysis of movement data, species-focused behavioural studies, population genetics, disease, and raptor ecology, are directly transferable to current conservation issues.
Gareth has over ten years of raptor conservation experience. He joined the Endangered Wildlife Trust in 2016, where he has managed the Birds of Prey Programme ever since. The programme’s focus is to protect threatened birds of prey and to safeguard the spaces they live in. From owls to vultures, the programme actions strategic research and field-based conservation projects for a wide range of threatened nocturnal and diurnal birds of prey throughout southern Africa; to reduce the impact of anthropogenic threats; maintain and recover populations; and secure/create important raptor safe spaces to improve their overall conservation status. The programme identifies and addresses key conservation threats to threatened species, and their critical habitats, through a combination of practical effectiveness, innovative technology, national and global partnerships, community work, education and awareness, legislative support and robust science – strengthening the efficiency of the regional birds of prey conservation network. Gareth is a research associate at the Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, where he collaborates on a variety of contemporary raptor conservation research projects.

Dr Dominic Henry is an ecologist at the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), and his primary work is focused on generating the animal species layers that are included in the Environmental Screening Tool. As a member of EWT’s Conservation Science Unit, Dominic also provides data analysis, study design and scientific support to various programmes within the organisation. Dominic is also an Honorary Research Associate at the Centre for Statistics in Ecology, Environment and Conservation at the University of Cape Town.

Dr Oliver Cowan is conservation scientist working in the Conservation Science Unit of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT). His work includes mapping the distribution of species of conservation concern and, as such, is involved in producing and refining the animal sensitivity of layer of the Environmental Screening Tool. Dr Cowan also coordinates the response of the EWT to proposed developments and has a keen interest in the EIA process.

Christie Craig works with the Endangered Wildlife Trust/ International Crane Foundation’s African Crane Conservation Programme. The focus of her work is doing research on the Blue Crane, particularly the Western Cape population, where the bulk of the population is found. She is busy with a PhD looking at assessing the status of the population, with particular focus on the impact of powerlines. Powerlines are one of the main threats to Blue Cranes, and collisions with infrastructure cause damage and outages. Through this work we aim to better understand, predict and prevent Blue Crane powerline collisions. This work is funded by the Leiden Conservation Foundation and Eskom.

Nicholas is currently employed by SLR Consulting and holds a B.SC Honours Degree in Earth and Geographical Sciences from the University of Cape Town. He has over 12 years’ experience working as environmental consultant. During this time he has been involved in a variety of projects within the mining, oil & gas, renewable energy and infrastructure sectors. In addition to being involved in a number of projects located throughout South Africa (both onshore and offshore), he has worked on projects located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Currently, Nicholas is involved in Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, Environmental Management Plans / Programmes, Basic Assessments, Maintenance Management Plans, Environmental Auditing & Monitoring, Section 24(G) Rectification Applications, as well as associated public participation processes.

Dhiveshni Moodley is an Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) Intern in the Environmental Management Services (EMS) group of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Dhiveshni holds a BSc, Honours (cum laude) and Masters (cum laude) degrees in Environmental Science from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. She has roughly three year’s of work and research experience in flood risk management, hydropedological and wetland functional assessment specialist studies, as well as in conducting Basic Assessments and Scoping/EIAs in the Renewable Energy sector.
Her key interest lies in the integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) analyses in the development of accurate, feasible solutions to complex environmental challenges. Dhiveshni is a member of the International Association of Impact Assessment-South Africa (IAIAsa) and is currently registered as a Candidate Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) (Reg. no. 1472997/19).