Pamela Kershaw is the Deputy Director for Biodiversity Planning and Stewardship at the National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Pamela holds a B.Tech Degree in Nature Conservation. She is currently responsible for the development and implementation of relevant national policies, legislation and related tools, strategies, programmes for conservation and management of ecosystems for South Africa including implementation of relevant international conventions. During her years at DFFE, Pamela has gained significant experience in environmental impact assessments, particularly relating to impacts to biodiversity and has in the last 6 years been facilitating the development of a national policy and guidelines on Biodiversity Offsets.

Dominic is a Principal Conservation Planner at Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, with over 15 years experience in primarily dealing with land use change developments and threats, outside protected areas. In that time, he has dealt with a fair number of offset proposals and experienced many of the challenges which this approach brings. He describes himself as a "Possibilitarian" in that he believes that anything is possible to achieve, provided that one sticks to principles and best practices. Dominic holds a BSc in Agriculture, with a Grassland Science Specialisation, from the University of Kwa Zulu Natal. He has previously lectured Grassland Science and Land Use Planning at the Owen Sithole College of Agriculture while busy with his MScAgric, before getting the opportunity to follow his passion for ecology and the impacts of land use change on the ecology of KwaZulu-Natal. Dominic obviously loves the outdoors, given his choice of vocation, and has been known to hike in the Drakensberg. He is also a long-distance runner - he has completed the Comrades twice and many other marathons and ultra-marathons. He also enjoys music, especially playing the bass guitar.

Sabelo B Nkosi is a Senior Environmentalist at eThekwini Municipality in the Biodiversity Impact Assessment Branch of the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department. His work is mainly focused on private EIAs and various land use planning applications with the aim of protecting the Municipality’s biodiversity assets. He has been involved in a number of biodiversity offsets within the Municipality and has an interest is the implementation of biodiversity offsets.

Furthermore, he is a member of the Municipal Planning Tribunal (MPT) and is also a grade 2 Environmental Management Inspector (EMI).

Currently, Sabelo is responsible for the Biodiversity Planning function in eThekwini Municipality as the Acting Senior Manager.

Sabelo’s professional experience in the Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) sector over the last 12 years ranges from private consulting, construction, research, and local government. These in addition to a number voluntary roles, and conference planning and participation.

Sabelo has a Masters in Environmental Management from the North-West University where his research was focused on the implementation of biodiversity offsets. Sabelo also holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) Honours degree in Entomology, where he studied plant-animal interactions such as pollination systems and biological control, and a BSc degree in Botany and Entomology, both from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

He is a registered professional ecologist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and a registered Environmental Assessment Practitioner with the Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa (EAPASA).

Lastly, Sabelo enjoys team sports, especially rugby, which has earned him some amateur colours and has won a number of trophies within the KZN Rugby Union structures. He also has taken up road running and enjoys travelling, music, photography and cooking, particularly for his wife and three children.

Amanda is currently the Director: Legal Support NEMA in the National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, South Africa. She was appointed to this position in 2011. She commenced her career in 1992 in the Department of Welfare, and then moved to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in 1997, now known as the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment. She has worked in various positions in this Department since 1997 covering policy development, legal support, and advisory aspects. Amanda’s work mostly relates to legal issues focusing on integrated environmental management, the bulk of which was EIA / IA related, but which has recently transitioned towards finding alternative responsible mechanisms to ensure environmental management, while relaxing strict command and control regimes.
Her responsibilities include: (1) Drafting and legal vetting of legislation including subordinate legislation such as regulations, norms and standards and a variety of legal Notices; (2) Drafting of environmental management instruments supporting environmental management; (3) Providing legal advice and support to legal instruments both to internal and external stakeholders; and (4) Ensuring close liaison with provincial environmental departments and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy who are implementers of national environmental legislation. Amanda has been involved in various national legal reform processes, including the development of new laws and amendments to facilitate alternative methods to impact assessment. She has been registered with EAPASA since 2021.

Ms Sindiswa (Sindi) Dlomo is a Deputy Director: National Infrastructure Projects within the Chief Directorate: Integrated Environmental Authorisation within the National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, in Pretoria. She holds a Degree in Environment Management, Geography and a BSc in Environmental Monitoring and Modelling.
She has more than 14 years of experience within the environmental management field, having previously worked for both the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Environment (GDARD). Sindi has extensive knowledge of the sector through having been responsible for the management of environmental impact assessment applications, review and evaluation of environmental impact assessment reports, and drafting of final decisions. Her experience includes client liaison, project-specific engagements with EAPs and proponents, and implementing environmental, social, and sustainable development objectives. Sindi also seats in various forums, and other Authorities and Environmental Monitoring Committees