Justine Ewart-Smith is a Cape Town based consultant and researcher with 18 years of experience in freshwater ecology, ranging from specialist input into biomonitoring, strategic environmental assessments and situation assessments, to environmental flow studies both locally and abroad. Justine was part of the team responsible for undertaking the Berg River Baseline Monitoring Programme prior to the construction of the Berg River Dam. She was also involved in the Eflow assessment for the Neelum/Jhelum Hydropower Plant in Pakistan, and that of the Batoka Gorge on the Zambezi River. Justine has recently completed Phase 1 of an Eflow assessment for the Luangwa Basin and Kafue Flats in Zambia for WWF. Besides her involvement in project management, her specialist tasks involved collation and review of water chemistry and aquatic biota of these systems as well as assistance with developing a course basin configuration of EFlows for the Luangwa Basin using a rapid planning tool developed during the project. Justine is currently involved in a three-year research project funded by the WRC aimed at developing tools based on periphyton as indicators of flow and nutrient alterations for South African rivers. In her role as Project Leader, Justine has coordinated a group of researchers and post-graduate students to collect data from different regions of South Africa. She developed the overall project design and is currently working with students in the analysis and interpretation of data as well as compilation of the final report. Besides her specialist interests in river ecosystems, Justine has been involved in several wetland assessments in the western Cape and was responsible for the development of a national wetland classification system through collaboration and co-ordination of wetland specialists from throughout South Africa.
Formal education
PhD (Freshwater Ecology, University of Cape Town)
MSc (Zoology, University of Cape Town)
BSc Honours (Zoology, University of Cape Town)
BSc (Zoology, University of Cape Town)
Professional Memberships/Accreditations
Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci.Nat) in Aquatic Science – The South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions
Member – Western Cape Wetlands Forum
Specialisations
Ecosystem health assessments and biomonitoring, environmental flow assessments,
