We currently have 6 core team members and we work closely with each other on virtually all aspects of our work.

Harry Jonas, LLM, is a lawyer and was a co-founder and co-director of Natural Justice with Kabir Bavikatte. His life interest is in the impact of law, politics, and economics on the biosphere (i.e. how positive legal systems interact with natural laws and the laws of nature), and as a corollary, in exploring how local approaches to law and policy promote social and environmental integrity. After working for 4 years from South Africa, Harry established an office in Sabah, Malaysia, with Holly Shrumm to deepen Natural Justice’s work in the Asia-Pacific region. He engages with the full spectrum of the organization’s thinking and activities and is currently a member of the Coordinating Committee.

Kabir Sanjay Bavikatte was a co-founder and co-director of Natural Justice and is currently a member of the Coordinating Committee and a Shuttleworth Fellow. He has an LL.B (National Law School of India University, Bangalore) and an LL.M in Law in Development (University of Warwick), and is currently awaiting his doctoral degree in Public Law (University of Cape Town). Over the years, Kabir has been actively involved in advocating for and writing about the rights of workers, sexual and religious minorities, farmers, livestock keepers, and Indigenous peoples. Within Natural Justice, Kabir has focused on supporting Indigenous peoples and traditional communities in ensuring that their concerns are fully represented in the development and implementation of national and international environmental law and policy, including through advising governments (most recently, South Africa and Bhutan) and inter-governmental organizations. He is also the legal advisor to the African Group of Countries in the international negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity, specifically negotiations relating to Access and Benefit Sharing and within the Working Group on Article 8(j) and related provisions.

Johanna von Braun started collaborating with Natural Justice soon after moving to South Africa in January 2009 for a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Cape Town’s Intellectual Property Law and Policy Research Unit. With a wealth of experience in the field of trade policy and intellectual property rights, she is in charge of the organization’s work on biotrade and also focuses on other market-driven incentives that affect communities and biological resources. Whilst currently based in Cape Town with the Africa team, she also heads Natural Justice’s emerging work in the Americas and is currently a member of the Coordinating Committee.

Holly Shrumm has a background in zoology and anthropology and has worked with communities and NGOs on local development and natural resource management in the USA, Tajikistan, and South Africa. She joined Natural Justice in 2009 and is currently based in Sabah, Malaysia, to focus on the Asia Regional Initiative on Biocultural Community Protocols and participatory approaches to legal empowerment and community governance of territories and ecosystems.

Gino Cocchiaro is a lawyer with a background on issues related to traditional knowledge, the commons, and community rights. He is based in Cape Town, South Africa, where he focuses on the African Regional Biocultural Community Protocols (BCP) and Biocultural Rights Initiatives. He previously worked as a barrister and solicitor in Australia before joining the International Development Law Organization. At IDLO, he coordinated its project on traditional knowledge protection, which focused on the international negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Inter-governmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Cultural Expressions/Folklore.

Laureen Manuel is studying law and has a background in accounting, human resources, and organizational management. She is currently working as the office and financial manager in Cape Town and contributing to local activities in South Africa.