Mathew Bukhi Mabele is a lecturer and conservation social scientist at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. He teaches and researches on the governance (access, use and justice) of human-environment interactions in tropical ecosystems. He applies critical lens such as political ecology and decolonial thinking in his teaching and research to understand underlying systemic structures and processes that drive socio-ecological injustices and explore transformative pathways for just conservation in the ecosystems. He specifically studies knowledge systems, power and politics over framings of concepts such as biodiversity conservation, protected areas, deforestation, poaching, coexistence and sustainability at policy level and resulting consequences for everyday governance and socio-ecological justice in the ecosystems. His works appear in peer-reviewed international journals in the fields of geography, sustainability, development, energy, forestry, environment and conservation.