Meet the Governance in UNESCO

Biosphere Research Team

Dr Kaera Coetzer
Principal Investigator (PI)

Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria
Email: kaera.coetzer@up.ac.za

Dr Kaera Coetzer is a social-ecological systems scientist with expertise drawing from the natural and social sciences. She is interested in understanding ecosystem behaviour as it is shaped through the actions of landscape actors and institutions at various scales, with a particular focus on environmental governance at the landscape scale. She has a specific interest in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves operating as sustainability organisations, in how they curate sustainability pathways and support more equitable and participatory decision-making around the environment, more sustainable resource-use behaviour, and thus, more sustainable local livelihoods long-term. She is the Principal Investigator of this research.

Dr Bianca Currie
Co-PI

Sustainability Research Unit, Nelson Mandela University / Garden Route Biosphere Reserve
Email: curriekillick@gmail.com

Dr Bianca Currie is currently the Chief Executive of the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve. She has a Phd from the Nelson Mandela University where she lectured for over ten years for the School of Natural Resource Management and was the head of the Sustainability Research Unit. Having resigned from the university in 2020, she remains a research associate of the Sustainability Research Unit supervising post graduate research. Her expertise and interests include complex social ecological systems resilience, trans and interdisciplinary research, social learning, stakeholder engagement and participation, adaptive co-management and landscape scale governance regimes.

Dr Lutendo Mugwedi
Co-PI

Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Venda
Email: Lutendo.Mugwedi@univen.ac.za

Dr Lutendo Mugwedi is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Venda. His research focuses on ecosystems restoration, biodiversity assessment and ecosystem services mapping to inform priority areas for conservation and restoration, ecosystem-based adaptation, invasive alien plant management, rainwater harvesting in rural communities, sustainable agriculture and biosphere reserves governance. Lutendo employs a trans-disciplinary research approach in most of his research. This is to ensure that different actors and stakeholders within a socio-ecological system co-develop solutions to challenges within their SES to ensure that the needs of current and future generations are met.

Prof. Maureen Reed
Co-PI

School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan
Email: m.reed@usask.ca

Professor Reed’s research program focuses on the social dimensions of sustainability – how people, processes and institutions – shape decisions about environment and development. She is particularly concerned to explain how rural communities practice sustainability and demonstrate resilience in the face of both rapid and slow-moving environmental, social, economic, political and cultural change.

Dr Ruida Pool Stanvliet
Co-PI

Independent Researcher
Email: poolstanvliet@gmail.com

An African by birth, Ruida Pool-Stanvliet has been a passionate conservationist all her life. As a trained botanist, she has an interest in the biodiversity and ecosystems of the Fynbos Biome. With an academic focus on the UNESCO MAB Programme, she has been involved with implementation aspects of biosphere reserves for more than 25 years. Her collaborations with UNESCO included involvement with a global evaluation of the MAB Programme, the Technical Guidelines for Biosphere Reserves, and a research report on governance of biosphere reserves. She holds a doctoral degree in Natural Sciences, with a focus on biosphere reserve selection criteria for South Africa

Dr James George Sekonya
Research Associate

Department of Conservation Management, Nelson Mandela University
Email: james.sekonya@mandela.ac.za

As a human geographer, my research interests and expertise lie in the themes around equitable access and sustainable use; commercialisation; governance; and conservation of biodiversity. I have experience working in areas of development planning; wildlife conservation and environmental education; environmental observation and research; and science education. These experiences have distilled my enthusiastic research interest in the transformative and sustainable conservation and governance approaches of natural resource commons for improving livelihoods and resilience in rural and peri-urban contexts.

Michael Klaver
Masters Candidate

Natural Resource Science & Management, Nelson Mandela University
Email: m18klaver@gmail.com

I am a conservationist and geographer with interests in sustainability science, social-ecological systems, human-wildlife interactions, species interactions and their interactions with their biophysical environment, environmental change and its impact on species, conservation biology, open systems, and conservation outside of protected areas. I am currently doing my MSc Nature Conservation with the Sustainable Research Unit (SRU) at the Nelson Mandela University, George campus. I am supervised by Dr Bianca Currie (SRU), Dr Kaera Coetzer (University of the Witwatersrand) and Dr James George Sekonya (Nelson Mandela University). In my free time I like to backpack, cycle, hike and run trails, watch animals in wild places (yes! including birds), and take photos.

Nobuhle Makhathini
Masters Candidate

Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
Email: buhlemakhathi98@gmail.com

Nobuhle Makhathini is a Masters candidate at the University of Witswatersrand. Her research is part of the bigger project “Governance models implemented in biosphere reserves: Progression towards social-ecological systems for sustainability”. Thus, her research assess the nexus between biosphere reserve governance models and sustainable socio-economic development of local communities.

Jesse Booysen
Masters Candidate

Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
Email: jesswildeman@gmail.com

Jesse is interested in the connections between people and their environment and how to enable and encourage their sustainable coexistence. Jesse is an MSc candidate researching the governance of the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve, with a particular focus on how governance facilitates youth involvement in the Biosphere Reserve. This research offers the opportunity to focus on her interest in sustainable development.

Irene Groenewald
Masters Candidate

Wits University, Global Change Institute
Email: iz2.zanti@gmail.com

Irene van der Merwe is a Masters student doing research on the governance models of two South African biosphere reserves. Her research examines the decision structures, operational procedures as well as the networking and collaboration structures of the two biosphere reserves’ governance models. By considering the governance models and governance innovations these biosphere reserves have developed and employed over time, her research aims to extract and highlight these innovations and lessons learned by the biosphere reserves, in order to contribute to the knowledge base of the international Man and Biosphere Programme of UNESCO.

Zeenat Patel
Masters Candidate

Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria
Email: u19173017@tuks.co.za

Zeenat is an MSc student at the University of Pretoria who is interested in the links between people and the natural environment and how social and environmental needs can be reconciled, particularly in the South African context, for a more sustainable future. Her project will look at governance in the Magliesberg Biosphere and how the science-policy-practice interface between surrounding tertiary education institutions and the Biosphere affects governance.

Gabrielle Grobler
Honours Student

Department of Geography, Geoinformatics & Meteorology, University of Pretoria
Email: groblergabrielle@gmail.com

Gabrielle Grobler is an Honours student doing research on the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) in the Eastern and Western Cape. Her research examines the unprecedented land-use change occurring within the GRBR’s boundaries in recent years. By providing research on these land-use changes, especially for the Outeniqua and Tsitikamma Strategic Water Source Areas within the GRBR, it will be possible to understand the current and future implications of these land-use changes. More specifically, this research aims to establish a formal baseline of land use and land cover for an important catchment area namely the Kaaimans catchment in George. Her research will also contribute to the knowledge base of the International Man and Biosphere Programme of UNESCO.

It will create an opportunity to showcase scientific research on the MAB Programme, focusing on South African biosphere reserves, while also collaborating and networking within the global space.

Ruida Pool Stanvliet, Independent Researcher

It incorporates what I perceive as fraternal twins of collaboration, being governance different scales and local contextualized knowledge. If we are going to make progress in the effort to address some of the most pressing resource management issues, one cannot afford to ignore the intersection of scale and context.

James George Sekonya, Department of Conservation Management - Nelson Mandela University

The project provides the opportunity to learn from- and together with- participating biosphere reserves as to the important role they play in shaping the sustainability trajectories in the landscapes they are found

Kaera Coetzer, Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology - University of Pretoria

I have an opportunity to contribute to the practical application of Man and the Biosphere Programme as it is implemented in South Africa.

Nobuhle Makhathini, Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences - University of the Witwatersrand

This will be a new field of research for me and I can see how this type of project can have real world positive effects.

Zeenat Patel, Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology - University of Pretoria

The Project it is an opportunity to share and learn about opportunities and challenges facing Biosphere Regions in South Africa and to consider lessons for Biosphere Regions in Canada.

Maureen Reed, School of Environment and Sustainability - University of Saskatchewan

I will have a better understanding of how biosphere reserves work with marginalized communities.

Lutendo Mugwedi, Geography and Environmental Sciences - University of Venda

I am a big fan of Biosphere Reserves and their potential to reconcile and reconnect humans with nature and the biosphere in the pursuit of sustainability.

Michael Klaver, Natural Resource Science & Management - Nelson Mandela University

It creates an opportunity for Biosphere Reserves to learn form each other and strengthen their governance models.

Irene Groenewald, Global Change Institute - University of the Witwatersrand