Steve McKean

Steve is an ecologist working for the KwaZulu-Natal conservation agency (KZN Wildlife) in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He specializes in natural resource management, particularly in “sustainable use” of plants and animals and in “ecosystem services” such as carbon sequestration. He started his career as a research officer at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he lectured and researched organic matter storage in soils and savanna ecology before joining KZN Wildlife as an ecologist in 1991. Steve is a member of the IUCN’s Southern African Sustainable Use Specialist Group and has published widely on sustainable resource use issues. He is frequently called on for input into resource management issues internationally. Steve has also consulted widely on natural resource management and has built up a wide range of partners and associates during the course of his career. He has a great love for the outdoors and his interests range from wildlife and landscape photography to endurance sports. He spends as much time as possible hiking in the mountains of KwaZulu-Natal and is a keen distance runner, mountain biker and river canoeist. Steve has competed in and completed 5 Comrades marathons (a world renowned 90km ultra-marathon), approximately 25 standard marathons, numerous 75km mountain bike races and more recently, another world famous endurance event, the Dusi canoe marathon (120km). Steve is married to Debbie and they have an 18 month old son, Carrick.