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Dr Rebecka Henriksson

Dr Rebecka Henriksson

Position:                                Researcher/Honorary Research Fellow

Discipline:                             Sustainability Science

Centre:                                   Centre for Water Resources Research (CWRR)

School:                                   School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Campus:                                 Agriculture Campus

Room no./Building:              Rabie Saunders Building

Telephone:                             +27 33 260-5486

Email:                                      HenrikssonR@ukzn.ac.za

 

Biography 

Dr Rebecka Henriksson graduated in 2016 from Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Sweden with a PhD in Sustainability Science. She has lived in Pietermaritzburg since 2009, devoting her academic journey to build her own, and others’, capacity and capabilities in both the intellectual advancement of, and the engaged practice of, transformative social-ecological systems research. Rebecka has researched into, and facilitated, stakeholder engagements for participatory governance and management of water and natural resources in South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Senegal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda.

Qualifications

PhD (Sustainability Science), Stockholm University, 2016

MSc (Biology), Stockholm University, 2005

Current Research Projects

  • “Towards sustainable and equitable management of water resources: Understanding the interlinkages between water, ecosystems and society through spatial mapping of ecosystem services and livelihood benefits.” WRC-funded. Project leadership and management of the transdisciplinary project team, student supervision and stakeholder engagement activities, including co-learning.  

  •  “Unlocking resilient benefits from African water resources” (RESBEN). An ARUA-UKRI GCRF Partnership Programme – Research Excellence project. UKZN node co-investigator. Leads research into assessing and evaluating complex social-ecological systems integration. Facilitating stakeholder engagements for participatory water governance.

  • “Northern Drakensberg Collaborative”- a WWF-funded Strategic Water Sources Partnership in the Upper uThukela Catchment/Northern Drakensberg. Co-convening with the Institute of Natural Resources and Mahlathini Development Foundation. Multi-stakeholder engagement and collaboration for the formation of a catchment partnership.

Recently Completed Projects (2020-23)

“Uncertainty Reduction in Models for Understanding Development Applications” (UMFULA) – a project within the Future Climate for Africa (FCFA). Acting Co-PI and postdoctoral research.

Hobbies and Interests

Travelling, cooking, gardening, martial arts and hiking

Five recent publications

  • Biggs, R., HS Clements, GS Cumming, G Cundill, A de Vos, M Hamann, L Luvuno, DJ Roux, O Selomane, R Blanchard, J Cockburn, L Dziba, KJ Esler, C Fabricius, R Henriksson, K Kotschy, R Lindborg, VA Masterson, JL Nel, P O’Farrell, CG Palmer, L, S Pollard, R Preiser, RJ Scholes, C Shackleton, S Shackleton, N Sitas, JA Slingsby, M Spierenburg, M Tengö & B Reyers. 2022. Social-ecological change: insights from the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society. Ecosystems and People 18:1, 447-468, DOI: 10.1080/26395916.2022.2097478
  • Mabhaudhi, T, S Hlahla, VGP Chimonyo, R Henriksson, TP Chibarabada, VG Murugani, VP Groner, Z Tadele, N Sobratee, R Slotow, AT Modi, F Baudron and P Chivenge. 2022. Diversity and diversification: Ecosystem services derived from underutilized crops and their co-benefits for sustainable agricultural landscapes and resilient food systems in Africa. Frontiers in Agronomy 4:859223. doi: 10.3389/fagro.2022.859223
  • Henriksson, R., K. Vincent and K. Naidoo. 2021. Exploring the adaptive capacity of sugarcane contract farming schemes in the face of extreme events. Frontiers in Climate – Climate Risk Management 3: 578544. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.578544
  • Henriksson, R., K. Vincent, E. Archer, and G. Jewitt. 2021. Understanding gender differences in availability, accessibility and use of climate information among smallholder farmers in Malawi. Climate & Development https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2020.1806777
  • Vincent, K., D. Conway, A.J. Dougill, J. Pardoe, E. Archer, A.G. Bhave, R. Henriksson, N. Mittal, D. Mkwambisi, E. Rouhaud, and D. Tembo-Nhlema. 2020. Re-balancing climate services to inform climate-resilient planning – A conceptual framework and illustrations from sub-Saharan Africa. Climate Risk Management https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2020.100242