Gina Ziervogel

Gina Ziervogel is Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town. She has 20 years experience in the field of adaptation and vulnerability to climate change. Her research focuses on climate change adaptation and resilience across scales from the household to municipal level. She is particularly interested in the multi-level governance of urban adaptation with a focus on social justice and how the urban poor might be part of cities and settlements’ transformative adaptation processes.

Methodologically she is interested in engaged scholarship and transdisciplinary projects that bring together civil society, government and academics to address problems collaboratively.

Over the past 6 years Gina’s work has focused on urban water governance for resilience in Cape Town, supported by a research grant from AXA research fund. She has looked at the governance of the drought and the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of the municipal government’s response. She has also been working with local actors using innovative methods to collaboratively collect and analyse community-generated data around water services in low-income areas. (see further info on CoReCT project here)

Gina serves on the City of Cape Town’s Water Resilience Advisory Section 80 Committee. Drawing on her research, she co-wrote a book about the drought with Leonie Joubert, a science journalist (www.dayzero.org.za). Please see further drought-related material here.

During 2019- 2020 Gina worked with a team at CSAG (Climate Systems Analysis Group) to develop a National Climate Risk & Vulnerability (CRV) Assessment Framework. Through a consultative process, the team developed a framework to guide users (from NGOs and small organisations, to business to government, including metro, local and provincial) through a process of scoping, planning and assessing risk and vulnerability assessments. When assessing vulnerability it gives options of initial screening, a mid-range or in-depth approach depending on resources, purpose and data. (See full version of the framework or 4 page brief)

She is a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment report and has authored numerous papers, book chapters and popular articles. In 2020 Gina was awarded the UCT Social responsiveness award. She has been selected as a 2020/2021 Fulbright scholar and is on sabbatical at University California Santa Cruz from July to December 2021. She has also been nominated as part of the Homeward Bound programme, an international leadership programme for women in STEMM (UCT news article).

Research Interests

• Adaptation to climate change
• Building adaptive and transformative capacity across scales
• Social justice and transformative adaptation
• Southern African development under climate change
• Urban environmental governance
• Applied research and engaged scholarship
• Transdisciplinary research and action