I am an environmental practitioner who works for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and have a focus on local economic development of disadvantaged communities through providing support in environmental assessments for their potential businesses/ developments. I have an interest in looking to broaden spatial planning in township and rural communities in South Africa to include looking at Ecosystem Services that can assist in building community resilience and economic development. I have worked with a number of monitoring, evaluating and developing sustainability indicators for state of the environment reporting with the South African and Namibian governments.