Julia WOOD

Manager: Biodiversity Management, City of Cape Town

Julia Wood, a botanist by training, has spent her career conserving and managing the rich biodiversity in the Fynbos Biome. She has devoted many years to Fynbos, passionately believing in the power of “champions”. She was originally based at UCT and funded by the Arid Zone Biome Project to undertake her MSc on conservation prioritisation in the Worcester-Robertson Karoo. Thereafter, she worked at Kirstenbosch, documenting the vegetation on the Tygerberg Hills. In 1995, she joined Parks and Forests at the Cape Town City Council, working there until she moved to the Table Mountain Fund, WWF, in 2003. In 2005, she was appointed manager of the Biodiversity Management Branch in the City of Cape Town. At the City, she has made great strides in conserving lowland fynbos and working with local communities in the heart of a rapidly expanding urban area. She has also overseen innovative job creation and skills development programmes.