John Hanks is a zoologist by training with his first degree in Natural Sciences from Magdalene College, Cambridge, followed by a PhD on the reproductive physiology, growth, and population dynamics of the African elephant in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. He has 45 years of experience in a wide variety of conservation management and research projects.John has worked in several African countries, including Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. His major most important postings have been: Chief Professional Officer for the Natal Parks Board; Professor and Head of the Department of Biological Sciences, then the first Director of the Institute of Natural Resources at the University of Natal; the Director of the Africa Program for WWF International (based in Gland, Switzerland); the Chief Executive of WWF-South Africa; the first Executive Director of the Peace Parks Foundation. He has published over 120 scientific papers.
Our associates
EcoAfrica Associates are trusted service providers who share our values and with whom we have enjoyed lasting relationships. In most cases they are well-known for their expertise while in other instances they are ideally positioned to help move along common agendas for environmental sustainability and social change. We occasionally include associates in our team when their expertise can add value to projects, processes and other initiatives.
John Hanks
Rean van der Merwe
Rean van der Merwe is presently engaged in PhD research investigating the implementation of online social media to support civic governance at community level. Rean's focus is on the information sharing and communication processes that underlie sustainable development, as well as the technologies which support these processes. He has formal training in both communications and information systems development and has substantial experience in the marketing and communications sector, including working as marcom consultant, interactive media developer and technical project manager. He presently serves as information systems architect for the DLIST programme, an online information sharing and distance learning toolset which aims to support sustainable coastal development in South Africa, Namibia and Angola. Rean further conducts training in a range of IT and communication topics and has recently been engaged by the government of Namibia to consult on e-Governance systems and related communcation strategy.
Bernice McLean
Bernice McLean is an environmental specialist with a strong interest in marine policy and coastal governance in particular. She has a background in archaeology and environmental governance and completed her Masters degree in Environmental Science through the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1998 on empowerment of San communities living on resettlement camps in Namibia. Bernice is currently working as an independent environmental consultant while completing her PhD in Marine Policy at the University of Delaware. Prior to this, Bernice coordinated the Marine and Coastal Working Group at the Endangered Wildlife Trust. She has extensive experience working on donor-funded projects and in particular on the development and implementation of GEF-supported conservation, environmental governance and coastal management projects in South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania and Namibia.
Floors Strauss
Floors Strauss has completed his Matric in Steinkopf in 1976, and completed various courses that include Project Management and Planning and Economic Empowerment through the University of Witwatersrand. He is very experienced in community facilitation, environmental education activities and was also chairperson of the Richtersveld Communal Property Association. Born and grown up in the Richtersveld, Namaqualand, he always puts community interests first. Since 1997, he managed projects that include Training and Support for Resource Management (TRANSFORM) and the Richtersveld Biodiversity Project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is currently working on several land-use and land ownership projects elsewhere.