Katlego – a Sepedi name that translates to Success – grew up in Moletji outside Polokwane in Limpopo; an area surrounded by impressive granite outcrops. One of the primary activities and sources of income in this area is subsistence farming. Growing up in this farming community, Katlego always found himself working in nature, which propelled him towards a career in natural sciences.
His primary reason for choosing environmental sciences is that he believes it broadens one’s horizons and allows one to explore many facets of life in order to understand, holistically, the processes that sustain life on Earth. As a result, Katlego is a scientist possessing knowledge in a diversity of fields within the environmental sciences, geography, and ecology, and a skill set that includes remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He has a master’s degree in Geography from the University of Pretoria focusing on ecology and biodiversity, and he is currently working towards his Ph.D. in Rangeland Ecology at the University of the Free State.
Katlego’s research has reached wide audiences through presentations at local and international conferences. He worked as a junior environmental consultant where he conducted environmental impact and risk assessments and feasibility studies. His overall goal is to use his research to understand how global change could curb the ever-increasing loss of biological diversity.