As an African youth with the full capacity to understand the dire situation we face with regards to biodiversity loss and climate change, I knew that there is need for science and policy to work together and inform each other. Born and bred in Zimbabwe, I also understood the reality of a young continent like Africa whose leadership crave development in terms of infrastructure, technologies and food systems, and that if we are not careful this may be at the expense of our natural resources.
So for me this Master’s is an empowering tool and space to collaborate internationally with other like-minded youths. For example, in December 2023, I had the privilege of joining a networking opportunity provided within SPIBES at the Santa Fe Institute Complexity Global School in South Africa, where I participated in a group project mapping climate financing using a network-based analysis model. Together, we can gather actionable solutions to our collective problems so that we all address development agendas and conservation as a simultaneous goal, while embracing science through research and informing policymakers.
At the moment for my MSc, I am a research intern at the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority’s Lake Kariba Fisheries Research Institute, where I am studying how protected areas can enhance sustainable fisheries management and livelihood development in Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. The MSc sets a higher bar by the fact that it is international and transdisciplinary. I feel able to spread my wings into the fields of agriculture, mining, even in commerce as I have already started to participate on issues around climate financing.
