Mr. Sives Govender

Mr Sives Govender is a Geographer and senior geospatial information specialist with close to 30 years’ experience in geospatial science, Earth observation, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). He holds a BSc and Master’s degree in Social Policy, specialising in Urbanization and GIS, from the University of Durban-Westville (now UKZN), and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Development from the University of Stellenbosch.

He is a Research Group Leader in Spatial Information Systems at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa, where he leads strategic geospatial and Earth observation initiatives. He has served as Consortium Lead and Contract Manager for the African Union’s GMES & Africa MarCOSIO programme and is Contract Manager for South Africa’s National Oceans and Coastal Information Management System (OCIMS).

Sives served as Executive Director of EIS-Africa, a pan-African organisation promoting geospatial science and technology for sustainable development, and coordinates the biennial AfricaGIS conference. He has contributed to international geospatial governance through roles with the Radiant Earth Foundation, Place, Group on Earth Observations (GEO), UN-GGIM Africa and the National Earth Observation System of Systems (NEOSS).

His work focuses on strengthening African capacity, policy, partnerships and ethical practice in geospatial science and Earth observation to advance evidence-based sustainable development.