Skhumbuzo Mdletshe

Skhumbuzo Mdletshe is a Research Fellow with the Global Risk Governance Programme, working on the wildlife poisoning project in the Greater Kruger landscape. He has served as a field researcher and project coordinator on numerous multi-institutional projects linked to the Kruger National Park and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park including research studies on   community conservation, ecology and public health issues across KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.  His work has spanned soil carbon and rangeland ecology, land use and conservation governance, bushmeat and illegal wildlife trade (including rhino horn and ivory trafficking routes), disease ecology, and the social and political dynamics between communities and protected areas. He has collaborated with institutions including the University of the Witwatersrand, University of Copenhagen, University of Sheffield, Leiden University, Oregon State University, and Erasmus University Rotterdam, and has particular strength in navigating politically sensitive field sites and eliciting the perspectives of marginalised and vulnerable communities living alongside conservation areas.