Derick du Toit

Straight-talking ecologist and educator Derick du Toit has worked in the environmental field for more than 35 years. He works in complex environments with multiple stakeholders who have competing interests, and has managed projects in education and natural resources management for a range of institutions. He specialises in research, project development, training programmes, resource materials development, and public participation facilitation. This involves working with local communities, government departments and institutions to try to understand natural resource systems such as water and the livelihoods of all stakeholders. Derick’s work has taken him from Namibia, where he worked with the Desert Research Foundation, to Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa as both an ecologist and education specialist introducing education reform in the national curricula. He is an associate of the Association for Water and Rural Development and has worked with the Water Research Commission on the six major rivers in the Lowveld, including the Olifants and the Crocodile River catchments. Many sectors — from coal and electricity to agriculture and tourism — use water from the catchments, putting the water system, water quality and management at risk. Derick is also the learning specialist for Africa’s first investigative environmental journalism unit, Oxpeckers, for its #Wildeye projects, which provide professional support and training for reporters. His work on the

Tala Table Network & Youth Programme supports climate-smart agriculture with smallholder farmers.