Dr Dave Balfour has worked in formal conservation for two decades. He consulted in the field of conservation ecology and protected area management & planning, covering both state- and privately-owned conservation areas, for five years. While most of his work has been in South Africa, he worked widely in Africa including in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, through professional assignments.
Dr Balfour's consulting engagements included planning (species, protected area, protected area expansion), conservation guideline development, programme/project reviews, surveys, feasibility studies, ecological advice, dispute resolution, protected area management effectiveness as well as scientific assessments and project evaluation assignments. These engagements include a range of taxa (plants, predators, large herbivores), landscapes and countries.
In formal protected area management, he spent close to a decade as Park Ecologist and five years as an Executive Member of a state-run conservation agency. This gave him a detailed understanding of protected area and institutional governance, in addition to the technical ecological understanding that he developed through conducting science and monitoring projects in protected areas in Southern Africa.
Dr Balfour continues to publish science as a Research Associate with the Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Zoology Department, Nelson Mandela University, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
