Felicity Blakeway;
Competence Area Manager (Forestry);
Natural Resources and the Environment
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Tel: +27 11 653 5000
Felicity “Flic” Blakeway’s work for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) focuses on strategic planning as part of the natural resources and environment (NRE) management team. In addition, she leads strategic research initiatives within the NRE’s Forestry Research Programme. She holds a BSc honours degree and a master’s Degree in plant biotechnology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. Before joining the CSIR to manage the council’s forestry research programme, she worked for Mondi in forestry research management, and in forestry education and development in East Africa. She is a committee member of the South African Institute of Forestry, has worked on Mondi/ISAAA/Gatsby East Africa Tree Biotechnology projects and serves On the Kilimo Trust. Blakeway is a member of the International Association for Plant Tissue Culture, the South African Institute of Forestry and the South African Association of Botanists.
Melissa Fourie;
Environmental Lawyer
Tel: +27 72 306 8888
Melissa Fourie is one of South Africa’s most influential environmental lawyers. She provides environmental law, policy, strategy and implementation advice and training on a consultancy basis, primarily in the public and NGO sectors. Since January this year she has been the project consultant for environmental NGO Wesse in a WWF-Table Mountain Fund project to establish a Centre for Environmental Rights, focused on advancing environmental rights in South Africa using the law. In her previous job she was the director of enforcement in the department of environmental affairs and tourism, heading up the so-called Green Scorpions, winning wide praise for her role. Fourie has an LLB from the University of Stellenbosch, a master’s degree in environment and development from the London School of Economics and a certificate in environmental law from the University of the Witwatersrand. Before joining the Green Scorpions, she practised as a commercial litigation attorney in Cape Town, and then headed up the policy and research unit in the South African country office of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Conservation Union.
Mumsie Gumede;
Chief Executive Officer
Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa
Tel: +27 33 330 3931
www.wildlifesociety.org.za
Mumsie Gumede is passionate about social change and believes the world’s citizens can share the planet and its resources in an equitable, responsible and wise way. This philosophy inspires her work. Gumede is CEO at the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, (Wessa), an 82-year-old environmental NGO. The post allows for meaningful engagement with a wide range of partners including other NGOs, the business sector, government, and educational institutions in and beyond South Africa. She has worked in the private sector, public sector and for NGOs. This year she co-ordinated and ran a workshop for Unesco on “Education for Sustainable Development in North-South-South & South-South partnerships and development cooperation” at Unesco’s world conference on education for sustainable development in Germany. Gumede grew up in KwaZulu-Natal, where her experience of an urban, rural, and peri-urban lifestyle and the environment influenced her way of thinking. She studied environmental sciences at the University of Botswana and Swaziland.
Samantha Petersen
Manager:
World Wildlife Foundation, Sustainable Fisheries Division
Tel: +27 21 421 9167
www.wwf.org.za
Samantha Petersen is a woman of the oceans. She heads the combined sustainable fisheries programme for the WWF and is at the forefront of marine conservation at a time when there is a severe assault on the marine resources of the world and the ocean is in crisis. Her work on the effect of fishing vessels on marine birds had been described as groundbreaking in environmental circles. Peterson has a diploma in veterinary nursing from the Onderstepoort Veterinary College, a BSc in zoology from Unisa as well as a PhD from the University of Cape Town, focusing on the bycatch of vulnerable species in longline and trawl fisheries. As part of her studies she spent many hours on fishing trawlers, mixing with sailors. She had her hands full convincing them to start implementing more environmentally friendly fishing techniques on their trawlers and, thanks to her, many trawlers have changed their practices.
Michele Pickover
Animal Rights Africa
Tel: + 27 11 472 2380
www.animalrightsafrica.org
Michele Pickover is a passionate animal rights activist and author of Animal Rights in South Africa, a definitive book published in 2005 and nominated for the 2006 Alan Paton award for non-fiction. She co-founded Animal Rights Africa (ARA) in 2006 through the merging of Justice for Animals, Xwe African Wildlife and South Africans for the Abolition of Vivisection. ARA is the only broad-based animal rights organisation in Africa and is committed to inclusive justice and compassion towards all species. The organisation’s projects include education and information, research, policy analysis and lobbying, advocacy, litigation and hands-on animal rescue work. Pickover is respected for her vocal stance on poaching, culling and slaughtering of animals. She campaigns against animal abuse and the property-status of animals which allows them to be owned by individuals and corporations. Pickover archivist at the University of the Witwatersrand, she holds a BA honours degree in history, a master’s degree in environmental sociology and a diploma in archival science.
Sue Slotar
Executive Director
The Jane Goodall Institute, South Africa
Tel: + 27 11 472 2380
www.janegoodall.co.za
Animals and their care rule the life of conservationist Sue Slotar. She oversees South Africa’s only chimpanzee sanctuary, JGI SA Chimpanzee Eden, as well as JGI’s Roots & Shoots programmes that aim to educate and inspire youth about the care of the land, animals and people. She works closely with renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall and was appointed a trustee of JGI SA and executive director in 2005. An enduring passion for wildlife, combined with the inability to resist a challenge, has characterised Slotar’s conservation journey. Highlights include hand-rearing two lion cubs, Dharma and Greg, from the age of six weeks and participating as a preferred volunteer to rehabilitate birds contaminated by oil spills. Other inhabitants of Slotar’s home have ranged from a tiny leopard cub and African wild cat to numerous owls, buck and even wild boar. Slotar has worked with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Community Led Animal Welfare, South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds and the Johannesburg Zoo. She founded FreeMe, a Sandton-based rehabilitation centre for indigenous wildlife, and Future Footprints, in partnership with Diane Sheard, to instil environmental awareness in communities. Slotar no longer has a large garden, so her days of playing surrogate mother to a vast assortment of wildlife are over. Now she only has 31 chimps in Nelspruit to worry about.
Patti Wickens
Environmental Principal
TDe Beers Group
Tel: +27 834482279
www.debeersgroup.com
Dr Patti Wickens studied marine biology at the University of Cape Town and gained her doctorate in 1989. After a number of years researching the population dynamics of seals on the West Coast and their interactions with fisheries, being involved in the development of the national fisheries policy, she joined De Beers Marine, where she researched and monitored deep-sea impacts and recovery, established partnerships with key research organisations and helped support undergraduate and postgraduate student projects. She implemented the ISO14001 environmental management system at De Beers Marine, achieving certification in 1998 — the world’s first diamond mine to be certified. Since 2004, she has headed environmental management at De Beers. She is a member of both the council and the senate of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.