Michael Burns is a Giorgio Ruffolo Research Fellow in Sustainability Science in the Sustainability Science Research Program at Harvard's Center for International Development. He is also manager of South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research sustainability science research program. The program focuses on: the translation of key sustainability science concepts into useful analytical frameworks; competency-building in complexity theory and transdisciplinarity; and, resilience analysis across the social-ecological system continuum. Burns is a chapter author and co-editor of an about to be published book documenting this research.

Burns has managed numerous environmental assessments of oil and gas projects in the on- and off-shore environments of Central and West Africa. In the course of his work in countries like Angola, Gabon, Cameroon and Mauritania he has developed a depth of understanding of the social and ecological system components and linking relationships affected by the oil and gas sector - and the associated sustainability implications.

The realisation that many decisions, which have consequences for sustainable development, originate from diverse epistemologies triggered his interest in environmental ethics. He received his Doctorate in Environmental Philosophy in 2002 from Stellenbosch University in South Africa where he investigated the co-evolutionary relationship between environmental assessment and environmental ethics.

Burns, M. and Weaver, A. (Eds) (2008). Exploring sustainability science: A southern African perspective. (Stellenbosch, South Africa, SUN Press).

Southern Africa is well-blessed with a diverse and vibrant human population and a wealth of natural capital. The key challenge for sustainable development is to grow society's capacity to use this natural capital to meet the needs of the region's human population, especially the poor, in ways that sustain environmental life-support systems. Collaborating across disciplines, the authors contributing to this 18-chapter volume explore the underpinning principles and the potential of sustainability science in a number of case studies.