Dr. John Ledger is a respected South African environmentalist, with a wealth of experience in many diverse fields including Sustainable Energy. With a B.Sc. Honours in Zoology at the University of the Witwatersrand, he joined the South African Institute for Medical Research as a researcher in the Department of Medical Entomology where he was to spend 18 years at the SAIMR, completing his Ph.D. and being appointed as Head of Department.
A non-executive Director of the Johannesburg Zoo Company, a member of the Panel of Environmental Experts for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and a member of the Advisory Board of the Mazda Wildlife Fund, John is also Visiting Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, teaching a postgraduate module in renewable energy and energy efficiency for the M.Sc. in Environmental Science. He is a past Chairperson of the Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa (SESSA) and has business interests in solar water heating. SESSA’s Solar Water Heating Division grew from 15 to more than 100 members in the space of one year, reflecting the stimulus on the industry of Eskom’s solar water heating incentive under its Demand Side Management (DSM) programme, which has allocated R2 billion to promote solar water heating in South Africa.
He also lectured at the School of Pathology and taught many medical doctors enrolled for the Diploma in Public Health and the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. During his years at the SAIMR John undertook pioneering research projects on a wide variety of insect vectors of disease, as well the parasites of birds and mammals. John published scores of scientific papers, including the descriptions of many new species of parasites.
A major achievement was John’s completely revised and updated version of Skaife’s African Insect Life. Published in 1979, this book has been reprinted several times and is still in the bookstores, 30 years later! He has also written a book on Southern Africa’s Threatened Wildlife and is co-author of the authoritative book The Vultures of Africa.
Always interested in birds and nature conservation, John and his colleague Peter Mundy founded the Vulture Study Group in 1973, to provide scientific direction for the study and conservation of these misunderstood and threatened birds. In 1976 they approached the Endangered Wildlife Trust (also founded in 1973) for financial assistance. This was agreed to, and John was appointed as a Trustee of the EWT in the same year.
In 1985 John accepted an invitation to become the Director of the Trust, stepping into the shoes of Clive Walker, the Founder. Under John’s leadership the EWT grew from just three people into one of South Africa’s most dynamic biodiversity conservation non-governmental organisations. Using the Vulture Study Group as the first example, John extended the idea of ‘working groups’ to cranes, carnivores and many other threatened species. Today the EWT has 83 members of staff and 19 Working Groups which collectively coordinate around 90 different projects.
John Ledger has always been a pragmatic conservationist, and as early as 1977 he started a dialogue with Eskom about the impacts of birds and powerlines. This resulted in the formation of a strategic partnership between the EWT and Eskom which endures to this day. A similar relationship was established with the Airports Company of South Africa to address the ecologically sound management of airports to reduce bird strikes.
John retired from the Trust in 2002 to pursue his numerous interests. He remains a Trustee and edits the EWT’s Vision magazine and Vision annual. He is also the Content Editor of African Wildlife, the journal of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa.