Zambian-born, Zimbabwe-raised, he has lived and worked in most of southern Africa and parts of east Africa since he was a child. After working for the National Parks department in Zimbabwe, he detoured to various universities in South Africa and Zimbabwe to study zoology, microbiology, mammalogy, and resource ecology. He was attracted to consulting work in the crocodile conservation and production sector. He spent quite a lot of years with that as his primary focus, mixed up with other consulting work as a project manager, resource-based business manager and educator. This has given him 25+ years’ experience in conservation, resource utilization and management, agribusiness, and training fields in academic, NGO and commercial settings.
Richard has grown up from being fascinated by African big and hairy mammals to being passionate about conserving, using and protecting the ecosystems, landscapes, soils vegetation and biodiversity that supports them. This is why he is here.
Currently based in South Africa but with connections in many places in southern Africa, Richard has three adult and nearly adult sons in Europe and SA. He has an enduring wish to walk through old miombo woodland or sand-forest and find streams that run clear.
. He has extensive experience in the field of natural resource management and is passionate about protecting the region's forests and biodiversity. He is looking forward to working with the FSC team to ensure that the forests of Southern Africa are managed sustainably.