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Zina Jacobs

Associate Researcher

Biography

Zina Jacobs joined PLAAS in September 2022. She holds a Masters degree in Geography and Environmental Studies; an Honours degree in Geography and Environmental Studies; and a Bachelors degree with a triple major in Geography, Sociology, and Environmental Sustainability Studies, all obtained at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

Before joining PLAAS, she worked as a People and Conservation officer for the City of Cape Town’s Wolfgat Nature Reserve. She worked with disadvantaged communities on the Cape Flats, doing environmental education programmes predominantly with Youth in Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town. She also had the opportunity to work as a Research Assistant at the South African National Biodiversity Institute.

She has done work on spatial injustice, poverty, and social exclusion on the Cape Flats, through her MA thesis titled Territory and exclusion: Contestations over space in Mitchell’s Plain. Her current research is on disrupting, transforming, and renewing Conservation in Southern Africa as part of the Living Landscapes project.