Meet the trust’s top specialists
AMONG the senior conservation managers at the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) are Lourens Leeuwner and Kish Chetty.
Leeuwner is the senior manager for the business and wildlife portfolios.
Before taking on this role, he managed the wildlife and energy programme at the trust for five years, where he worked closely with power utilities across Africa to minimise wildlife impacts and improve network performance.
Most of his time was spent managing the long-standing partnership between the EWT and Eskom. He also currently represents the trust as a panel member on the Birds and Renewable Energy Specialist Group, the South African Bat Assessments Association and is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Crane Specialist Group.
Chetty is the trust's senior manager for sustainable financing and is a highly knowledgeable environmental scientist with 14 years' experience in the sustainability and environmental management fields.
He is a subject-matter expert in environmental and social governance matters, particularly involving energy infrastructure, mining, biodiversity management, nature-based solutions, sustainable financing, and climate change related issues.
He is a BirdLife South Africa Eagle Owl Award recipient, and a University of Witwatersrand Organisation for Tropical Studies graduate.
Chetty is currently studying towards his PhD and his research is looking at the impact of wind energy facilities and their associated infrastructure on biodiversity.
He represents South Africa internationally on business and biodiversity assessment through the inter-governmental science policy platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and is a member of several International Union for Conservation of Nature specialist groups.
He actively pursues business partnerships for collaborative conservation projects across Africa, with a special interest in conservation finance.