Debra Roberts, a 2004 Watson International Scholar of the Environment, heads up the Environmental Management Department of eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa). Her key responsibilities in this post include:
* overseeing the planning and protection of the city’s biodiversity
and natural resource base.
* ensuring that environmental considerations influence all aspects of planning and development in the city.
* directing and developing the municipality’s Climate Protection
Programme.
* directing the Municpality's greening programme for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, which is to take place in South Africa.
Prior to joining the Municipality in January 1994, Debra lectured at the University of Natal for a period of ten years in the departments of Biology and Geographical and Environmental Sciences. Her doctoral research provided the basis for the design of the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D'MOSS), South Africa's most successful urban conservation initiative.
Her current priority is the development of the municipality's Climate Protection Programme. This has involved an assessment of the local impacts of climate change in Durban; exploring mitigation and adaptation options for the city, and working towards the development of an integrative assessment tool that will allow the Municipality's long term plans to be tested against various climate change scenarios.
Debra has written widely in the fields of open space planning, environmental management and climate protection.
Contact info:
Deputy Head: Environmental Management
P.O. Box 680
Durban, 4000
South Africa
Tel: +27-31-311 7517
Fax: +27-311 7134
email: robertsd@durban.gov.za
