Climate justice ostensibly addresses the equitable distribution of responsibilities for the burdens of climate change and the fair sharing of the means and resources for its mitigation. In theory, the concept links environmental concerns with social and racial ones, recognizing the disproportionate impact climate change has on people from developing countries, who are least responsible for the havoc wrought by climate change.
In practice, however, that recognition has done very little to direct sufficient assistance to those same developing countries, which bear the brunt of the damage largely on their own. Research shows that the international adaptation finance flows going to developed countries are 5-10 times lower than the estimated needs, and the gap isn’t being closed. To further complicate and embitter matters, developing nations with newly discovered fossil fuel resources are being discouraged from exploiting them but without offers to help them transition to renewable energy sources. A historic agreement on a “loss and damage fund” at last year’s COP27 international climate conference was a good start. But what else is needed to set nations on the path to climate justice? What role do businesses, civil society and multilaterals play?
Please join us for an expert panel to discuss these critical questions and more on March 8, 2023 from 10:00am to 11:00am EST.
Speakers
Hajar Khamlichi
President and Co-founder, Mediterranean Youth Climate Network
Mohammed Mahmoud
Director, Climate and Water Program, Middle East Institute
Amath Pathé Sene
Managing Director, Africa’s Food Systems Forum
Ayat Soliman
Regional Director, Sustainable Development Eastern and Southern Africa, World Bank
Mirette F. Mabrouk, moderator
Senior Fellow & Founding Director Egypt Program, Middle East Institute
Detailed Speaker Biographies
Hajar Khamlichi
Hajar is a sustainability expert and a climate advocate, with over 15 years of experience in water operations and CSR management. As of July 2021, she was appointed as the executive director of the Mediterranean Climate House Foundation. In addition, Hajar has contributed and continues to be involved in the development of national and regional networks for policy monitoring and advocacy on climate and sustainable development, both at local and regional levels, including the Moroccan Alliance for Climate and Sustainable Development (AMCDD) and Climate Action Network Arab World. She is a co-founder and was formerly president of the Mediterranean Youth Climate Network (MYCN). Hajar is a co-founder of the Imal Initiative for Climate and Development, the independent non-profit North African climate-focused think tank headquartered in Morocco. She also joined the MENA urban sustainability non-profit Carboun as its Mediterranean coordinator to monitor and promote cities' sustainability.
Mohammed Mahmoud
Mohammed Mahmoud is the Director of the Climate and Water Program and a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. His areas of expertise include climate change adaptation, water policy analysis, and scenario planning. Mohammed has held leadership positions in several organizations, most recently as chair of the Water Utility Climate Alliance. Prior to that, Mohammed was president of the North American Weather Modification Council. Mohammed’s professional accomplishments include negotiating and formalizing a 10-year multi-state cloud seeding funding agreement between seven Colorado River Basin states, developing and implementing the first ever climate adaptation plan for a multi-county water district in Arizona, and helping secure a 1.1 million dollar grant from NASA for Arizona State University to study the impacts of climate change on the hydrology of the western United States. Mohammed has conducted water-management research and work for the Middle East and North Africa region; most extensively on the Nile River Basin. Mohammed’s other water management work in the region explored formalizing the administration of Saudi Arabia’s groundwater resources by using other established groundwater management frameworks as application templates, such as Arizona’s 1980 Groundwater Management Code.
Amath Pathé Sene
Amath Pathe Sene is the lead environment and climate for West and Central Africa at IFAD. Prior to joining IFAD, Sene worked with the World Centre for Sustainable Development (RIO+Centre) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Prior to that, he was Regional Programme Advisor for the joint UNDP-UNEP Poverty and Environment Global Initiative based in UNEP Africa Office in Nairobi. Prior to joining the UN system, he served in Afghanistan as Sub Office Manager and Food Security Program Manager with the Groupe Urgence Rehabilitation Developpement, Helvetas and Solidarités International on Linking Relief Rehabilitation and Development - EU funded projects.
Ayat Soliman (invited)
Ayat Soliman is the World Bank’s Regional Director for Sustainable Development for Eastern and Southern Africa. Ms. Soliman has over 25 years of experience working on sustainable development issues at the World Bank, United Nations, and private sector, covering water, agriculture, environment, social and urban development, as well as cross-cutting issues of climate change. In her current assignment, Ms. Soliman is in charge of setting the policy direction, fostering partnerships, and ensuring the integrated delivery of sustainable development programs in the 26 countries in the region. Consistent with regional and country strategies, she provides strategic direction to deliver analytical and operational responses to key challenges faced by the region including food security, social inclusion & equitable economic transition, and climate resilience.
Mirette F. Mabrouk, moderator
Mirette F. Mabrouk is an MEI senior fellow and founding director of the Institute's Egypt Studies program. She was previously deputy director and director for research and programs at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council. Formerly a fellow at the Project for U.S. Relations with the Middle East at the Brookings Institution, Mabrouk moved to Washington, D.C., from Cairo, where she was director of communications for the Economic Research Forum (ERF). Before being appointed associate director for publishing operations at The American University in Cairo Press, Ms. Mabrouk had over 20 years of experience in both print and television journalism. She is the founding publisher of The Daily Star Egypt, (now The Daily New Egypt), at the time, the country’s only independent English-language daily newspaper, and the former publishing director for IBA Media, which produces the region’s top English-language magazines. Her writing has appeared in publications like Foreign Policy, The Hill, and HuffPost, and she has been quoted and appeared on the BBC, VOA, Sky News, The Wall Street Journal, and the Christian Science Monitor, among others. She recently authored “And Now for Something Completely Different: Arab Media’s Own Little Revolution,” a chapter in a book on the Arab transitions, Reconstructing the Middle East, and is the editor of a multi-author report, Rethinking Egypt’s Economy.
Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images