King, has been a researcher at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape for four decades now, with her immense contributions having provided a world-acclaimed toolbox for calculating the ecological reserve. This has given an important voice to the environment as a critical water user while strongly influencing policy as evidenced in the 1998 National Water Act of South Africa which has become a central policy pillar around the globe to ensure current and future water security by maintaining the ecological health of our critical water systems.
King’s work in South Africa was recognised in the 1990s with a silver medal from the Southern African Society of Aquatic Scientists and in 2003 with a Women in Water Award from the Department of Water Affairs. In 2010 she was appointed as an inaugural member of the National Water Advisory Council to advise the South African minister of water affairs and in 2012 she was appointed as extraordinary professor at the University of the Western Cape. In 2016, she was awarded WWF South Africa’s prestigious Living Planet Award.
