29-Oct-2019 1700

Burgoyne, Christopher Nicholas (PhD)
Christopher Burgoyne was born in Cape Town in 1988. He completed his A-Levels
at the International School of Cape Town in 2005. He obtained a Bachelor of Social
Science degree majoring in Environmental Science and Psychology, followed by an
honours degree and an MA degree in Geography from the University of
Johannesburg in 2011 and 2014 respectively. That same year he enrolled for a
PhD degree at the University of Johannesburg. He is currently working as a
freelance environmental control specialist at various industrial facilities in Cape
Town.
Historically, the science and practice of biodiversity conservation has had an
antithetical position to the consumptive practices of rural people, often excluding
them from resource use. In order for conservation to be sustainable, it is necessary
to find people-oriented resource management strategies. This thesis focused on the
social factors influencing co-operative natural resource management in three ecotourism
concessions in Tanzania and South Africa, including two wildlife protected
areas and one marine protected area. It used in-depth semi-structured interviews
and qualitative analysis to improve the understanding of the complex human
aspects of natural resource management in each case study. The results highlight
the important influence of power, trust, and ad-hoc human behaviour on the
outcome of co-operative natural resource management. This study is important
because it demonstrates the complexity of stakeholder engagements with direct
impacts on biodiversity. The research has resulted in two international peerreviewed
publications and presentations at two conferences.
Supervisor: Dr CJ Kelso
Co-supervisor: Prof KF Mearns (University of South Africa)
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