Richard believes that inspiring educational experiences will make a difference in persuading today’s youth that resources are limited and our thoughtless abuse of the planet cannot continue.
In heading up the College’s Responsible Resource Use department, Richard is actively involved in securing the College’s training in the anchor resource use activities of guiding and hunting, while developing a wider suite of products that encompass other less obvious but ecologically critical forms of resource use from the level of soil and groundwater upwards. His approach is to help raise the profile and standards of all forms of resource use, holistically and to use new technologies and practices to fit training into the working lives of learners.
Originally from Zambia and having grown up in Zimbabwe, Richard studied at Rhodes University, University of Pretoria and the University of Zimbabwe, completing an MSc in Tropical Resource Ecology and DPhil in Zoology and wildlife management.
Richard has 25 years of active involvement at the interface of conservation and utilisation of wildlife species and wild landscapes as a researcher, consultant, and stakeholder and has had the opportunity of working in remote places across Africa in countries such as Kenya, the DRC, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and SA – often quite challenging from a conditions and logistics point of view.