CONCLUSIONS
15th NOV 2023 | 12.30 to 13.30 CET
Description
How does one move forward? How can CASSANDRA result in tangible changes? How does one establish Africa and the Mediterranean as leaders in science and technology addressing the relationship between Climate Change and Health, Migration, Conflict and Gender Inequality?
Speakers in this session:
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Dr. RICHARD ELELMAN, Head of Politics, Eurecat and Leader of Cassandra
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ALMOTAZ ABADI, Deputy Secretary General in charge of Water, Environment and Blue Economy, UFM
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Dr. HAKIMA EL HAITÉ, President, Liberal International
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Dr. DANILO TÜRK, President of Slovenia (2007-2012). President of Club de Madrid
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SARAH KEENER, Global Thematic Lead, Social Inclusion in Water, The World Bank
Speakers
Dr. RICHARD ELELMAN
Head of Politics, Eurecat and Leader of Cassandra
Dr Richard Elelman studied Politics in the UK before living in France, Spain, Portugal, the Middle East, Sudan, Afghanistan and India. He is currently the Head of Politics at EURECAT in Barcelona, the co-leader of the RENAISSANCE Science-Art-Sustainability programme with the European Commission and has just completed an eight-month assignment as the Acting Coordinator of the United Nations’ World Water Quality Alliance based at the UN in Nairobi. The former Deputy Mayor of Figueres in Spain, he is a political analyst who has, in recent years, specialised in Environmental and Scientific Policy and the links between Politics, the world of Research and Development and Citizen Engagement. He works in collaboration with many supranational organisations such as the UN Environment Programme, UNESCO, the World Bank and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission as an External Expert. His latest publication, ‘The Gateway to the Future of the Mediterranean’ addresses the issue of the WEFE NEXUS. His principal activities at present, include defining the socio-political consequences of Climate Change on Migration, Health, Conflict and Gender Equality. He is a regular speaker at numerous international conferences in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
ALMOTAZ ABADI
Deputy Secretary General in charge of Water, Environment and Blue Economy, UFM
He was UfM Acting Deputy Secretary General for the same division between September 2015-August 2016. Moreover, Abadi has held the Water Managing Director position at the UfM, leading the initiatives to revitalize the water political process in the Mediterranean, including achieving a Ministerial Declaration and approving a regional water strategy linking resource efficiency with bolstering investment and financing for the services sectors, including water and renewable energy.
Before the UfM, he was the director of the Aid Coordination & Management Unit with the donor community and the Government of Palestine in the water and related sectors. Also, he had a main role in the EXACT program, led by the State Department and coalition of Donors to enhance the socio economic aspects, and helping build just and equal opportunities with the framework of the MEPP.
Mr Abadi is an international and regional cooperation expert, engineering by training and accredited diplomat by experience. He developed his career during the last 20 years working with international donor agencies, international and regional organizations as well as policy advisers to governments in the region.
He holds a master’s degree in water resources management and one in Governance, he continued with a postgraduate in leadership and multilateral cooperation on resources and cross border arrangements. Regarding informal activities with civil society, Mr Abadi was part of groups that established the Green Buidling Council in Palestine, the Middle East Water Forum. He is also an Alumni to IVLP program and Active member of the Pugwash group.
Dr. HAKIMA EL HAITÉ
President, Liberal International
Dr. Hakima El Haité is a former Minister of Environment of Morocco. In 2015 she was elected vice-President of the United Nations Paris Climate Conference. President François Hollande of France awarded her the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur insignia in December 2016. In the same year she was appointed High Level Climate Champion of the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change for cop 22. She holds two PhDs: one in environmental studies form the University of Meknes and one in Environmental Engineering from the Ecole des Mines de St Etienne, France. As a liberal politician from Africa she is the first President of Liberal International from a non-European country. She is listed in 2019 and in 2022/23 one of the “100 most influential people in Climate Policy” curated by Apolitical. In April 2023 the Secretary General of the United Nations appointed her a member of the Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste.
Dr. DANILO TÜRK
President of Slovenia (2007-2012)
President of Club de Madrid
Danilo Türk is a former President of Slovenia. He is also currently serving as the President of Club de Madrid.
He graduated from the University of Ljubljana in 1975 with a degree in law and later obtained his PhD with a thesis on the principle of non-intervention in international law in 1982.
President Türk became Director of the Institute on International Law at the University of Ljubljana in 1983. Additionally, he was a member of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, a UN body of independent experts. In that capacity he served, between 1986 and 1992, as the UN Special Rapporteur on the realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 1990-1991, Türk took part in the drafting of the Constitution of Slovenia by preparing the draft chapter related to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
From 1992 to 2000, he became the first Slovene Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, and represented Slovenia on the UN Security Council in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, he was invited by Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General, to serve as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs (2000-2005). In 2005, he returned to Slovenia as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana. He was elected as President in 2007 as an independent, being supported by several political parties. Dr. Türk chaired the Global High Level Panel on Water and Peace between 2015 and 2016, which published the report “A Matter of Survival” (2017). In 2016, he was one of the candidates for the post of the Secretary-General of the UN.
Since 2013, has been a Member of Club de Madrid and, in October 2019, he was elected by the General Assembly as the organization’s President for the period 2020-2022. In 2022, Türk was named one of the 12 Eminent individuals invited to be part of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism Comprises, which will be asked to build on the ideas in Our Common Agenda to make concrete suggestions for more effective multilateral arrangements across a range of key global issues.
SARAH KEENER
Global Thematic Lead, Social Inclusion in Water, The World Bank
Sarah Keener, Senior Social Development Specialist, has been leading the agenda on social inclusion in the World Bank Water Global Practice for the past several years. She has worked for over 25 years with the World Bank Group in the Middle East and North Africa, in Latin American and Caribbean, and in the Africa Region. She pioneered innovative approaches to inclusion in water, including leading a stakeholder engagement project among the riparians of the Nile Basin, undertaking analytical work on water provision to the urban poor in Africa, managing technical assistance focused on infrastructure regulation and citizen engagement, and developing innovative citizen-centric approaches to peri-urban water provision in Peru, Mozambique, Angola, Lesotho, Zambia and elsewhere. Ms. Keener, an American national, holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
