Hello everyone!

Greetings from beautiful Cape Town! While I am South African, I spent many years working in Papua New Guinea and my heart definitely belongs to the islands, so I’m very happy to be part of this group and to meet you all.

To introduce myself, I am a photographer, writer and storyteller and I will be joining you on this study tour to document not only the different activities we will experience, but also to listen to and tell your stories - who you are, what you’re doing and why this is important. I believe that storytelling is incredibly powerful, helping us to connect to both the issues and the people involved, and creating the necessary empathy to truly create change. It is a great privilege for me to be documenting your stories and I look forward to hearing them soon.

I’ve been telling stories about the sustainability movement for over a decade, and some of you may be familiar with my work through the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) or the UNFCCC. I’ve been covering a wide range of topics, but chemicals management is close to my heart and I think it’s important to communicate these matters more effectively to inspire broad-scale change. That’s what I try to do with my stories, so you can check out my coverage of Minamata on this platform, or follow me on Instagram to see more stories from other processes.

So looking forward to being with you all soon and until then, have a story worthy day!