Stefania Falcon is a Cape Town–based environmental conservationist and qualified paralegal, trained at the University of Cape Town. Her work brings together legal, scientific and ethical perspectives on wildlife protection and environmental governance. She holds a BSc in Sociology from La Sapienza University of Rome and is Programme Coordinator at the Wild Law Institute, where she supports the implementation of Rights of Nature principles and promotes ecocentric approaches to governance.
Stefania is actively involved in international wildlife-protection networks, contributing to collaborative, science-based and ethical approaches to conservation. As a wildlife law specialist and advocate for the Rights of Nature, she works with the Wild Law Institute, which serves as the Secretariat of the Antarctic Rights Initiative. In this role, she supports the development of governance frameworks that recognise Antarctica as a rights-bearing entity, while strengthening the Initiative’s outreach, partnerships and coordination.
Over the past five years, Stefania has also worked closely with Khoi communities in Cape Town. This includes her involvement in a landmark court case led by the EMS Foundation seeking the release of three African elephants from Johannesburg Zoo. The case remains ongoing and reflects the growing connections between Indigenous advocacy, animal justice and environmental law.
Drawing on her extensive networks and relationships with local communities and institutions, she will lead engagement with Khoi and Venda communities in Southern Africa, helping to ensure that African Indigenous perspectives and principles of ethical governance are meaningfully integrated into the project’s design and implementation.