www.ecoafrica.co.za

CEO EcoAfrica Group

Dr Francois Odendaal

Dr Francois Odendaal (PhD, FRGS) completed his doctorate in ecological studies in 1981 in Australia and then joined Stanford University to do research in the Colorado Rockies and in tropical rainforests in Costa Rica. He subsequently joined Duke University as a research and teaching associate doing field work in the south-eastern USA. At Connecticut State University, he taught a range of environmental courses for a decade to over 300 Masters level students, with over one hundred participating in field studies in Latin America, Africa, and the USA. He returned to South Africa in the early 1990’s to become Principal Research Officer in the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies at the University of Cape Town. He specialises in tourism development, integrated coastal areas management, protected areas development, heritage preservation and policy formulation processes. He has published numerous scientific articles, hundreds of technical reports, taught government officials and NGOs from more than twenty countries in environmental and development-related courses, and wrote several books.

Dr Francois Odendaal has more than 30 years of experience in protected area planning. He has prepared  some prestigious Nomination Dossiers for World Heritage Sites and developed more than 70 Integrated Conservation Management Plans (ICMPs) for Protected Areas, including for World Heritage Sites, in South Africa and internationally. Francois has worked for several high profile repeat clients in the heritage establishment and various governments.