Home » Candidates » Neil FITT for position: Regional Councillor – Africa

Candidate info

Particular qualifications to be a Regional Councillor:
I believe that I will bring a unique combination of experience to this position, having served on the Board of KCS, Botswana’s oldest environmental NGO for over twenty five (25) years, been at the cutting edge as a senior government officer for nine (9) years and lastly as the CEO of KCS 2017 to 2019. I have worked with IUCN since the early 1990’s, initially as a member of the Botswana IUCN Committee and then as their Chairperson and as a representative on the Regional Advisory Council to the Regional Director, at that time based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Since 2017, I have held the position of Chairperson of IUCN Botswana and am a member of the Regional Committee. In my professional life, I have had a close working relationship with IUCN and its bodies, through my position of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Botswana.

Link to qualifications details

Experience in fields of concern to IUCN:

In 2014, I led Botswana’s delegation of officials in the preparation of the first Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) conference in London. Over the same period we negotiated the re-introduction of both black and white rhinoceros to Botswana and through the start of the recent escalation of poaching in the region, I helped draft the terms of establishment and operation for the Wildlife Enforcement Network of Southern Africa (WENSA), which has now been overtaken by events. I have also been closely involved with the establishment of several Community Based Natural Resource Management Trusts (CBNRM’s), including the long-established Nata Bird Sanctuary (1994), Etsha Craft and Basket making trust in the Delta and others mainly dealing with non-wildlife Natural Resources, here in Botswana. Currently I serve as a Board member and the Environmental Chairperson of the Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO) and a member of the Business Botswana (BB) (Botswana’s Chamber of Commerce), Environmental Committee.

Acceptance of NominationManifesto

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