The Water Neutral team.
Pancho Ndebele, holds the following degrees from UK universities; MBA, Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law, Master of Science (MSc) in Water and Wastewater Engineering and a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In 2002 he served on the Business Co-ordinating Forum, for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and developed the "water neutral" concept for the WSSD. He has experience in developing "green" business solutions and the implementation of strategies for sustainability. He serves as an alternate business member on the National Environmental Advisory Forum (NEAF) that advises the South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. He is a board member of the London based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and Sukuma Afrika (Stand Up Africa) which he co-founded with the UN Millennium Campaign and Africa Investor. In 2007 he chaired the peer review process of The Netherlands Sustainable Development Strategy at the request of the Dutch Government. He is a founder of Emvelo - "a sustainable development company", before founding Emvelo Group; he worked for leading corporations in the UK and Southern Africa as an environmental engineer, consultant and head of sustainable development.
Arjen Hoekstra is Professor in Multidisciplinary Water Management at the University of Twente. He specialises in integrated water resources planning and management, river basin management, policy analysis, and systems analysis. Hoekstra has an MSc degree in Civil Engineering and a PhD degree in the field of Water Systems and Policy Analysis. He has worked in various academic environments in the Netherlands and abroad. Hoekstra has been project leader of a number of interdisciplinary research projects. His publications include various articles on water scarcity management, water footprints and virtual water trade and a book on the globalization of water (Blackwell, 2008). Hoekstra developed the water footprint concept whilst he was at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Netherlands.
Dr Ashok Chapagain, is Researcher on water footprint and virtual water concepts. He works closely with Professor Arjen Hoekstra, with whom he co-authored the Blackwell-book on the globalization of water. Chapagain has a PhD degree from the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. He has a decade of working experience at field level in the Department of Irrigation in Nepal and six years of research experience in the field of water resource management in the Netherlands and abroad. Currently works for the World Wide Fund for Nature in the UK.
Julia Thompson was until recently the Chief Executive Officer of Common Purpose, where she focused on leadership development and transformation in South Africa. She is skilled in all aspects of project planning, management and design and has particular expertise in organisational effectiveness, capacity building, relationship and stakeholder management. She has 15 years experience in international development work, and besides Canada, she has lived and worked in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa. Julia has a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics (LSE) in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries. She is a committed advocate for the rights of the poor and gender integration, some of the organisations that Julia has worked and advised on community water, gender and poverty issues are; The Canadian Cooperative Association, CARE South Africa and Lesotho, The Mvula Water Trust, The Department of Environment, Finance, Economic Affairs, and Tourism (Limpopo Province, South Africa), The Rural Action Committee (Mpumalanga Province, South Africa), The Organisation of Collective Co-operatives (OCCZIM), Zimbabwe.
