Albert Butare

Dr Albert Butare, a former Minister of State for Infrastructure in the Republic of Rwanda, has over thirty years of energy, water, and communication experience in Africa.
Post his Ministerial engagement, Dr Butare has been assisting a number of countries directly or under bilateral or multilateral cooperation support from various Institutions including the World Bank, European Union Commission, African Development Bank, UNDESA, UN Economic Commission for Africa, etc on policy and strategy related to energy and climate change aspects. Major focus has been on sustainable energy for all initiatives including development of action agenda and investment prospectuses, as well as climate change policies and strategies, development of NDCs, NAMAs, BURs and National Communication Reports for. Number of countries in Africa.
As a Co-Chair of the Bonn led Energy, Water, and Food Security Nexus process that was one of the key contributions from the Germany Government to the Rio Sustainable development summit in 2012, Dr Butare participated did contribute to the development of the SDGs.
A winner of the East Africa Power Industry Convention 2014/15 Award as an outstanding Individual that has strongly contributed to the development of power sector in the region, a winner of the U.K. based 2002 Ashden Foundation’s International Award for Renewable Energies and a Power Elite/Personality of the year 2018 recognized by ESI Africa Magazine’s African Power Elites 2018 edition.

Dr Butare is currently a CEO of Africa Energy Services Group Ltd based in Kigali, Rwanda, with branches in Dar es salaam., Tanzania, Nairobi, Kenya, and Maseru, Lesotho on climate change related matters.

Anne-Sophie Stevance

Anne-Sophie is a Senior Science Officer at the International Science Council where she manages the international science-policy activities related to the Sustainable Developments Goals, the post-2015 framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the new climate agreement. Within these processes, Anne-Sophie coordinates inputs from the international scientific community and supports stronger interface between scientists and policy-makers. Anne-Sophie has also worked on the design and implementation of Future Earth, a new strategic framework for global Earth system research. She holds a Master degree in political sciences, specialising in sustainable development policies. Before joining the ISC (and ICSU), Anne-Sophie worked as an environmental project officer in a research consultancy and helped integrate engineering and scientific knowledge into local environmental policies. She also has experience in stakeholders’ management at local and European levels to support sustainability initiatives.

Carolina Duque Chopitea

Carolina was born in Panama and is a passionate professional using data analytics to identify social, market, and business trends for companies and organizations to increase their performance and impact. She has a multidisciplinary background as a business data analyst and political scientist. She builds predictive statistical models, and interpret the social context of the data to deliver actionable insights. She worked for the Panama Mission to the United Nations. She also was the author of the 2018 Nexus Conference on Water, Energy and Climate Declaration. She more recently worked at the UN IFAD New York Office. She was one of the authors of the 2019 book Stakeholder Democracy: Representative Democracy in a Time of Fear

Charles Nouhan

Charles Nouhan is Chairman of Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future and its Representative to the United Nations in New York. Focusing on international relations within the NGO and inter-governmental sustainable development sector, including renewable energy technologies and sustainable waste and resources management, their work supports the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. Recent efforts include the Global Forum for National SDG Advisory Bodies founded by SF, the German Council for Sustainable Development, the Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development, and UNDESA. The Global Forum aims to strengthen the capacity of its members to be better positioned to support their governments in achieving the 2030 Agenda.
Charles also leads the Global Partnership for Ocean Wave Energy Technology, a new multi-stakeholder partnership to develop and deploy a zero-emissions technology capable of utility-level electrical power generation from ocean waves.

Charlotte Norman

Charlotte Norman is the director of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction department at the National Disaster Management Organisation, Accra, Ghana. A woman with excellent communication and professional skills.
She is a graduate of University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Thames Valley University in Slough UK, and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
She previously worked on Advocacy and Communication as well as an Advocate for Human Right with Amnesty International, Ireland. She was involved in the establishment of a Web Emergency Operation Centre. She has been trained in the use of the Incident Command System and helped in developing various scenarios for simulation exercises. Other trainings include Disaster Management, Food and human security, Disaster Risk Reduction, Conflict resolution, Defence Management, Agricultural Insurance among others. Currently, she is the Government Coordinator and technical lead on contingency planning for the African Risk Capacity in Ghana.
She has represented the organisation on various international Disaster and Climate Change Platforms in South Korea, Peru, Germany, Singapore, France, Switzerland, China, UK and several African Countries. Currently the focal person on Early Warning for the GARID PROJECT of the World Bank.
She has served on numerous committees including the National Climate Change Committee and also, a member of the International Day for disaster Risk Reduction committee. A board member of VOICE (centre for inclusive communities).

Habib El-Habr

Habib is Coordinator, Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities. He was Director and Regional Representative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for West Asia. He joined UNEP in 1988, becoming Deputy Chief of the Freshwater Unit in Nairobi and Deputy Director of the UNEP International Environment Technology Center in Japan. Dr. El-Habr worked as a water research specialist at the National Scientific Research Council in France. He has a long experience in coastal and marine management, waste-water management, and environmental health and assessment.

Jakob Rhyner

Jakob Rhyner is professor for Global Change and Systemic Risks in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Bonn, and Scientific Director Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research, a new joint initiative of several research and education institutions in Bonn The Bonn Alliance focuses in the Research priorities Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Mobility and Migrations, and Bioeconomy. Until recently, Jakob has served as Director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security at the United Nations University (UNU-EHS), and as Co-Chair of the Governing Council of Future Earth. At United Nations University he has been responsible for the development of joint master programmes on environmental security. In addition, he has more than 10 years of experience in industrial research in the energy sector, as well as environmental risk research and management, including early warning systems.

Jeb Brugmann

Jeb has a 35-year career working with cities to establish new practices for local sustainability, social equity and justice. In the 1980s, as National Coordinator of Local Elected Officials for Social Responsibility, he led the establishment of the Sanctuary Cities movement in the United States. In 1989/90, he founded ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, and as Secretary General from 1990-2000 built the worldwide organization. In this capacity, Jeb established the UN-sponsored, worldwide Local Agenda 21 initiative for urban sustainability planning, which by the year 2000 had involved more than 6,400 communities in 113 countries. He also co-founded ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection campaign, which engaged more than 500 cities in climate mitigation planning.

As an economist and market analyst, in 2004 Jeb co-founded The Next Practice Ltd. business innovation consultancy with Prof. C.K. Prahalad, focused on developing product and business solutions to address poverty conditions among low-income populations. Jeb led ‘base of the pyramid’ product design and business planning projects for corporate clients in the banking, energy, and property sectors. In this work he also focused on providing community-based organizations and NGOs in India and North American with the local market and business analyses they needed to advance their development strategies.

In 2017 Jeb joined the 100 Resilient Cities team as Vice President, Solutions Development. He managed further development of 100RC's Partnership Platform, overseeing 115 corporate partnerships offering more that $200 million in pro bono services value to 100RC cities. He also oversaw 100RC's portfolio of planning and design tools, developing new tools that were deployed in cities on four continents.

Linda Siegele

Linda Siegele is an environmental lawyer based in the UK. She has been involved in the United Nations climate change negotiating process since 2005 with a special focus on the issues of adaptation and loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change. Linda is particularly familiar with the climate change concerns of small island developing states and least developed countries, having directly supported country delegations through the provision of relevant technical and strategic policy advice.

Maria Figueroa Kupcu

Maria heads the NY Office of Brunswick Group and is a senior advisor specializing in reputation campaigns, issues management and social purpose communications. She has anchored the Business & Society offer in the U.S. and developed Brunswick’s global stakeholder engagement offer.

Before joining the firm in 2007, Maria was Director of International Political and Corporate Campaigns for the research firm Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB). A seasoned opinion researcher, she has advised presidential and mayoral campaigns in countries including: the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, South Korea, Ukraine, U.S.A. and Zimbabwe. She brings her experience in political campaigns to help corporate and non-profit clients build engagement strategies.

Maria began her career with the United Nations, working to reconcile government, business and NGO positions on environmental and social issues such as water risk, gender issues and labor rights. Maria’s clients span sectors and she has particular experience with consumer industries, energy and resources, and foundations. She is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and Tufts University, where she is a board member of the Institute for Global Leadership.

Meggan Spires

Meggan Senior Manager: Climate Change, Energy & Resilience in ICLEI – Local Government for sustainability Africa Office in Johannesburg. She believes that African cities are places of innovation and potential, where globally relevant solutions are found. She leads the Climate Change, Energy and Resilience workstream at ICLEI Africa, where a diverse team works with African city stakeholders to build resilience, enable low emission development, and improve access to finance and energy. Meggan holds a PhD in Environmental Science and before joining ICLEI Africa worked as a municipal official.

Mercy J. Borbor Cordova

Mercy J. Borbor Cordova, Ph.D. is Coordinadora de Investigación Facultad de Ingeniería Marítima y Ciencias del Mar FIMCM Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). She is a Former Vice Minister of the Environment, Province Director of Risk Management and Chief of Environmental Control of the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Expert in Environmental Sciences and Climate Change and Health, with experience in public administration and development of policies in environment and climate; participation in negotiation processes at the COPs on climate change. Selected as Lead Author for the Assessment Report 6 (AR6) in the Mitigation Working Group, Chapter 13 of institutions and subnationals (2018-2022) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Ecuadorian expert in the Human Resources Development (HRD), Team within the Climatology Commission at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). AMERIGEO member in the working group of Capacity Building

Nathanial Matthews

Nathanial (Nate) Matthews is Director of Programs at the Global Resilience Partnership where he leads GRP’s resilience investments with oversight across the technical work teams including: Innovation and Scaling and Design and Impact. Previous to this, he was Principal Scientist and Global Research Coordinator at the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. He has 16 years’ experience spanning over 30 countries. He has contributed to numerous international forums including as a lead author in the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an IPCC Expert Reviewer, an advisory board member of the Economist Sustainability Summit, a member of the Expert working group on Adaptation and Resilience at Climate Bonds Initiative and as a working group member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report. Nate holds a PhD in Geography from King’s College London and has published two books and authored over 55 scientific publications and reports.

Twitter Account: @Nate_Matthews_