You are cordially invited to a talk by Professor Debra Roberts titled: Everything you need to know about climate change – latest findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Talk Overview

This presentation will cover the key findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment cycle synthesis report released in 2023.  UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres referred to this report as “a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe.” The discussion will examine the key climate change challenges that lie ahead and the chances that our species will actually rise to meet them in a fair and equitable manner.

Debra Roberts Bio

Professor Debra Roberts is a scientist who has spent the last four decades working at the science-policy-practice interface in the fields of biodiversity planning and management, climate change adaptation and mitigation and sustainable development and resilience at local and international levels. Her pioneering work has helped reduce vulnerability in human and natural communities, enhanced local level sustainability and resilience, created socio-economic development opportunities and driven institutional change. Through her ongoing documentation of this transdisciplinary research, she has contributed to and influenced the climate change and development debate at multiple scales. Professor Roberts headed the Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit and Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department in eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa) between 1994 and 2024. In 2015 Professor Roberts was a lead author of Chapter 8 (Urban Areas) of Working Group II’s contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). She was elected as IPCC Co-Chair of Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability) for the sixth assessment cycle (2015-2023). She is an Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the School of Life Sciences and has been an advisor to the Global Commission on Adaptation, United Cities and Local Governments and the United Nations Secretary General’s 2019 Climate Summit. In 2019 and 2022/23 she was included in a list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy. Professor Roberts has been awarded Honorary Doctorates for her local and international climate change and environmental work by the University of Twente (The Netherlands), University of Cape Town (South Africa) and Rhodes University (South Africa). She currently holds the Professor Willem Schermerhorn Chair in Open Science from a Majority World Perspective at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science at the University of Twente.

Join us for what promises to be a most inspiring and informative evening with wine, juice, snacks and good company.

DATE:  Monday, 13 May 2024

TIME:   17h00 for 17h30

VENUE: Murray Lecture Theatre, (Centenary Building, opposite the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre entrance) Howard College Campus, Durban

COST: R50 per person (payable on arrival)

RSVP BY: Monday, 6 May 2024

Please click here to confirm attendance .

Please see notice here.

Enquiries to: Silindile Mchunu | Email mchunus2@ukzn.ac.za |Contact No: 031-2602016

Robin Ralfe
Chairman Durban Alumni Association