I work as a Climate Change Projects Officer for Derby City Council in England, UK. I am responsible for implementing the Council’s Corporate Climate Change Agenda and ensuring that the Council remains on the path to sustainability by offering the public with climate change mitigation and adaptation options.

I am responsible for managing the Local Area Agreement National Indicator 186 on reducing the City’s carbon emissions. This is a national obligation on Local Authorities to manage their carbon footprint with a view to reducing energy demand in industry and households across the local Authority area. I also promote sustainable procurement within the council to ensure that the Council reduces its budgetary constraints by procuring goods and services that have minimal embedded energy and give off minimal carbon emissions (carbon neutrality being the ambition)

I am also involved with organising the Council’s environmental volunteers called Climate Champions. The fight against climate change has a lot to do with changing people’s perceptions and attitudes. It is therefore of paramount importance for the Council employees to be proactively engaged in a bid to influence their attitude towards energy efficiency and related matters. This is the role that I play via the climate champions who take the climate change agenda to their work colleagues.

I also work towards identifying sources of funding for the Council’s climate change projects and making the applications where necessary.

Prior to this role I worked with Nottinghamshire County Council as a Project Development Officer for Sherwood: the Living Legend Project. This was a ground breaking project whose aim was to safeguard the ecology of Sherwood Forest, the famous home of the medieval outlaw: Robin Hood. Sherwood Forest is a popular tourist destination but increasing visitor numbers were beginning to exert a negative impact on the forest ecology which has some rare fauna as well as ancient oaks, the oldest of which is believed to be more than 800 years old.

Before moving to the United Kingdom I worked in Zimbabwe for a Local Authority in conjunction with a local environmental NGO whose aim was to foster a greater sense of Community Based Natural Resources Management. Through the activities of this NGO I was involved in pioneering research work in Zimbabwe Eastern Highlands on the commercialisation of a herbal plant that was traditionally used for various purposes including as a tea. The project involved processing the leaves into a product that could be sold as a commercial tea. This was the first project of its first kind and it gave birth to a now very popular herbal tea called Makoni Tea (named after the local chief). The successful commercialisation motivated the locals to conserve the shrub and many people then stopped the traditional bush burning for pastures as this would destroy the plant. As a result the project area has seen a revival of the forest area.

Upon completing my A Levels I trained as a Forester at the Zimbabwe College of Forestry (1997) and briefly worked as a Social Forester with the Forestry Commission in 1998 before diverting to environmental management and later on undertook a BSc in Environmental Studies (2003). I graduated with an MSc in Environmental Management from the University of Nottingham in 2006. In the long term I intend to carry out post grad research in Sustainable Development Advocacy.