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Christo Marais
Executive Manager: Strategic Partnerships - Working For Water
South Africa

Christo Marais grew up on a wine, deciduous fruit and dairy farm in the Breede River (Wide River) valley north east of Cape Town in South Africa.  In 1983 he obtained a diploma in forestry from the Saasveld School of Forestry, and in 1986 graduated with forestry, majoring in nature conservation from the University of Stellenbosch. 
In 1988 he obtained an honours and in 1998 a Ph.D. in Nature Conservation.  The title of his dissertation, “An economic evaluation of the invasive alien plant control programmes in the mountain catchment areas of the Western Cape Province, South Africa.”  Since 1987 he worked as natural resource manager in conservation agencies in South Africa and contributed to and edited a number of scientific reports as well as local and international conference proceedings focusing on invasive alien plants and watershed management.  This led to the publication of local and international refereed scientific papers and book chapters on the restoration of natural capital and payments for ecosystem services with him as co-author and some as first author.  The publications were mostly based on his academic work and experience as senior manager in the Working for Water, Working on Fire, Working for Wetlands and Working for Woodlands programmes all part of the environmental and social cluster of South Africa’s Expanded Public Works Programme. 
He is currently head of operations support for Working for Water, Working on Fire and Working for Woodlands.  Since its inception the programmes showed an exponential growth in financial turnover.  Expenditure since its inception in 1995 have been more than 6.7 million (R3.5 billion) and around 35, 000 people benefit directly from the programmes annually.  He was chairperson of the Fynbos Forum from 1991 – 2001 a group of scientists, planners and natural resource managers who was instrumental in the conceptualization and inception of Working for Water.  He is currently the president of the Southern African Wildlife Management Association.