Ernesta Swanepoel, an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa has worked as a specialist environmental law consultant since 2008 and serves a wide array of national and international clients. Whilst Ernesta has worked in most areas of national and international environmental law, she often consults on climate change as well as ocean governance.

Her professional focus includes:

•  legal analysis and review, drafting of legal opinions;
•  research-based consulting;
•  training and capacity development; and
•  workshop facilitation and institutional support.

Ernesta enjoys the challenge of reviewing and drafting environmental legislation. National and provincial governments, as well as various international clients, have benefited from her drafting skills and sharp eye for detail.

Complex and emerging legal questions around environmental issues are Ernesta’s niche. She consults on technical matters such as the interaction between carbon tax and carbon budgets in South Africa, and relishes the occasional odd question such as “Can lighthouses be moved?” The legal opinions and technical input she offers are research- and experience-based. Clients who have appointed her as subject matter expert include, among many others, various specialised United Nations agencies, civil society representatives and governments. She is often lauded as a generous soundboard, for her exceptional analytical skills and for her ability to process large volumes of complex information.

Ernesta values opportunities to train and empower stakeholders for the benefit of the environment. She has acted as a moderator for international environmental law diploma courses and assisted the United Nations in developing e-learning modules on climate change. She also assisted the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UN’s specialised agency responsible for regulating shipping, with the development and presentation of training courses on the implementation of three IMO conventions into national law in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.

As a meticulous notetaker and excellent writer, Ernesta is often appointed as rapporteur to generate meeting reports for large organisations. She also offers institutional support as a workshop facilitator who manages to convey high-level technical content without sacrificing the audience’s attention. Her gift of the gab has furthermore awarded her the role of MC at several prestigious events.

Ernesta is affiliated with various professional and civil society bodies as well as national and international organisations. She currently serves as a member of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) Advisory Committee and as co-leader of the Disaster Risk Management priority area of the South African chapter of the Indian Ocean Rim Association Academic Group (IORA). Ernesta has been supporting the South African delegation as well as the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations since 2016. Her role is to negotiate loss and damage associated with climate change impacts (the Loss and Damage Mechanism). Finally, she also serves as a member of the executive committee of the South African Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) and is qualified as a whale disentanglement trainer.

Ernesta’s passion for the environment and for the ocean stretches beyond law. She is a qualified PADI Dive Master and volunteered for South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) from 2010 to 2020. During this decade, Ernesta gained extensive experience in the field of maritime search and rescue (MSAR). In addition to participating in countless MSAR operations, she served as a rescue swimmer for both the Bakoven lifeboat station and the institute’s helicopter rescue unit. She made the ranks of training coxswain at the Bakoven station, and served as the training officer for both Bakoven station and the helicopter rescue unit.

Apart from the exceptional quality of her work, Ernesta’s positive attitude and approachable nature have garnered her a loyal client base.