Staff, Students & Associates

Conservation Biology Masters Students (2012/13)

Jessica Greenston

Email: jessica.greenston@uct.ac.za

Jessica was born and raised outside of Washington, D.C. Her passion for wild spaces took hold while studying tropical biology in Costa Rica through a semester study abroad program, sponsored by the Organization for Tropical Studies and Duke University. Jessica graduated shortly thereafter with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Washington University in St. Louis. Following university, Jessica sought to focus her conservation interests in becoming an advocate for the environment through a law degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After clerking for the Hon. Neil M. Gorsuch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Jessica honed her skills as an environmental attorney in Washington, D.C. Her work ranged from enforcing checks on water pollution from the poultry industry to studying the intersection of human health and the environment resulting from manufacturing-facility air emissions. Feeling a need to return to wild places, in 2010, Jessica joined the Gorongosa Restoration Project, an NGO working with the Mozambique government to restore Gorongosa National Park. From the Park headquarters in Chitengo, Jessica helped further the Park’s goal of financial sustainability by developing eco-tourism contracts with experienced safari operators. She also worked to halt the rapid growth of gold mining in the Park’s buffer zone by working closely with government officials to ensure enforcement of legal protections. Jessica is passionate about the synergies that can be created between the conservation of wild spaces and the development of local communities. Outside of her studies, Jessica enjoys yoga, hiking, biking, live music, exchanging ideas with friends, and the development of new hobbies, which currently include green smoothies and the didgeridoo.