Gender, climate change and health: how can we do better for women and girls?

Panellist

Muzna Alvi is a Research Fellow with the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit at the International Food Policy Research Institute. She is based in New Delhi, India. Her research focuses on the economics of social inclusion in agri-food system, with a focus on self-help groups and collective action, agricultural extension, migration, climate resilience, and agriculture policies. She has worked on research and evaluation projects in South and Central Asia. Muzna has a PhD and MA in Economics from Michigan State University and an MPhil in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Panellist

A rural woman, first and foremost, Keithlin Caroo is an advocate and changemaker in the fields of gender equity in agriculture and rural development in St. Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean. This former United Nations employee departed the world of International Relations to champion and advance the work of women in Agriculture through her work with Helen’s Daughters, a regionally recognized nonprofit organization that focuses on rural women’s economic empowerment through advocacy, capacity development and improved market access. The organization pays special attention to the training of rural communities (particularly women) in the area of sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, agri-business and overall self-development.

Ms. Caroo is a One Young World Ambassador, the recipient of the 2018 National Youth Award in Agriculture, a Thought for Food Ambassador, a Forbes Island Innovation feature, an Ashoka and Echoing Green fellow, an awardee for humanitarian services from HM Queen Elizabeth II and a Goodwill Ambassador for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.

Panellist

Fatou has 7 years’ experience in the climate and gender equality advocacy sector. In 2017, she founded Clean Earth Gambia, one of the biggest youth-led NGO working towards gender and climate change, conservation, and awareness on environmental issues in The Gambia. Her organisation has planted over 40,000 trees over the years, supported women farmers, initiated the first She- Climate Fellowship, a 6-month training for Gambian women on climate policy, leadership and climate justice, co-organised green competitions for schools and small-scale farmers, supporting with finance and seedlings to support their gardens and farms, trained students and youth amongst other major climate projects for communities in The Gambia. She was recently appointed as Youth Climate Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General, advising his office on climate-related issues.

Fatou also served as the Policy Operations lead for Women and Gender of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Youth Constituency where she has been leading policy submissions, organising programmes on gender and climate change and mobilised funding for global south eco-feminists to attend climate meetings since COP23. She pursued her master’s degree in Environment, Development and Policy at the University of Sussex as a Chevening scholar with a thesis focused on gender and climate adaptation in Africa.

Panellist

Dr. Mohammad Rafik Nagdee is the Head of the Nature, Climate, and Energy (NCE) Programme for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean at the UNDP. He is a recognized expert in building resilience to the Climate Crisis faced by Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). With over 10 years of experience in environmental and development sectors, Dr. Nagdee has worked extensively on projects related to mitigation and adaptation with a specialization on the blue economy. A proud product of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr. Nagdee holds degrees in Geomatics and Coastal Engineering from the St. Augustine Campus, and a Doctorate in Natural Resource Management from the Cave Hill Campus. Prior to UNDP, he demonstrated exceptional leadership during his tenure as the CEO of the BlueGreen Initiative, a NGO that spearheads social, economic, and environmental sustainability initiatives for Caribbean SIDS. Over the course of five years, Dr. Nagdee made significant strides in advancing the organization’s mission with the most notable contributions being the incorporation of the orange economy into the NGO’s portfolio. He also serves as a part-time postgraduate lecturer at The UWI Cave Hill Campus, strengthening regional capacity by sharing his knowledge and expertise with young persons throughout the region.

Panellist

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls is the great grand-daughter of Girmit’mas Jinki and Sukhdei.

She is a 2nd generation Pacific Island feminist working to progress feminist practice and women’s rights using an inclusive peace, development, and humanitarian nexus approach to contribute to building peaceful and inclusive communities.

With a professional background in broadcast media, her professional experience has included supporting the foundational work for feminist information and communication systems in the Pacific as well as driving a local approach to the Women, Peace and Security agenda coordinating civil society input into the development of the Pacific Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (2012-2015) and successfully lobbying for the inclusion of climate change in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2242 (2015).

Sharon is the Pacific Regional Representative of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) responsible for Advocacy, Communications, and the Pacific Women Mediators Network Programme. She is also a Technical Adviser to the Pacific Island Feminist Alliance for Climate Justice.

Sharon also contributes her professional experience and expertise to the​ UN Women convened Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) Board, ​Global Consultative Group of gender experts for the midterm review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction & Pacific Climate Security Network (PCSN) and the Generation Equality Forum Multistakeholder Leadership Group.

Panellist

Adelle is Senior Fellow at the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Centre at University of The Bahamas and Senior Scientist and Loss and Damage Lead at Climate Analytics. Her areas of research focus on adaptation, limits to adaptation and loss and damage in the developing world context, with a particular focus on small island developing states.

A human-environment geographer, Adelle has over 16 years of practice in intersections between climate action and development. Her research and policy experience have centered on conceptualizing, assessing and responding to loss and damage at multiple spatial scales; assessing constraints and limits to adaptation; and investigating how climate change intersects with other development challenges. She has extensive experience in providing scientific advice at the climate-policy interface, including in the UNFCCC and in national and sub-national policy processes.

Adelle has authored an array of academic publications and has also provided scientific services to organisations including the Global Environment Facility, Inter-American Development Bank, International Maritime Organization, GIZ and national institutions in the USA and Caribbean. Adelle obtained a PhD and MS in Geography from Rutgers University, a BS in Civil Engineering from University of Minnesota and and BA in Engineering Science from Macalester College.