Debra Roberts established and heads the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department of eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa). She is a lead author of Chapter 8 (Urban Areas) and a contributing author to Chapter 12 (Africa) of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, due for release in March 2014. She is also a member of the South African climate negotiating team. Dr. Roberts sits on various international advisory bodies focused on climate change issues in cities and was vice-chair of UN-Habitat's HS-NET Advisory Board which oversaw the production of the 2011 "Cities and Climate Change" Global Report. She is also a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network in the Sustainable Cities Thematic Group. Dr. Roberts has written widely in the fields of urban open space planning, environmental management and urban climate protection and has received a number of awards for her work.