With the backdrop of conflict, an energy crisis, and extreme weather events all over the world, Amiera Sawas, Tyrone Hall and Zubair Zakir will discuss what is at stake at the upcoming COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh. On tap for discussion: justice, empowerment, market mechanisms, loss and damage, adaptation and more. This is an interactive discussion - bring your best questions!
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About the Speakers
Dr. Amiera Sawas
Dr. Amiera Sawas is Programmes and Research Director at Climate Outreach. She is responsible for overseeing the programmatic and research implementation of the organisation’s strategy. Amiera has diverse experience in climate, environment and development research and programming work, across the private, non-governmental and academic sectors. This has taken her to various countries including Sweden, Pakistan, Jordan and Kenya. As a result, she’s really passionate about the potential of bringing diverse stakeholders together to combat climate change and set an inclusive vision for our collective future.
Amiera has a PhD in Human Geography, a Masters in Global Politics and a Bachelors in Psychology. She is terrible at languages but has managed to hone a good grasp of French, as well as some basic Urdu. She is currently making her Syrian family proud by finally dedicating time to learning Arabic. In her spare time she can be found dancing samba, listening to hip hop and endlessly watching true crime documentaries.
Dr. Tyrone Hall
Tyrone Hall is a climate change specialist with over a decade of in-country research, intergovernmental and industry experience across the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, India and the Pacific region.
Tyrone has an exceptional record of harnessing diverse institutional voices, directly strengthening and boosting outcomes aligned with core priorities: from social enterprises and regional institutions to global partnerships at the forefront of multilateral processes.
His climate policy and communication competence is grounded in award-winning doctoral research. He earned both Vanier and Ontario Trillium Awards, the two most prestigious in Canada, for his doctoral work.
Tyrone earned a doctorate in Communication with a specialization in sustainability policy and politics from York University. His research examined campaign and negotiation processes in relation to the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change, alongside communication processes in 17 indigenous and traditional villages across Belize, Fiji and India.
He earned a Masters in International Development from Clark University in Massachusetts. His graduate research focused on analyzing and communicating the value of Environmental Impact Assessments for hotel developers, communities and policy-makers.
He's passionate about and previously taught advanced level university courses on climate and food politics and supported the deployment of tech for rural economic development in Africa and Latin America.
Zubair Zakir
Born and raised in London, Zubair Zakir is the Founder and CEO of Anthropocene.io, working with individuals within business, government, NGO and Indigenous tribal groups to implement actions that help protect the environment and deliver social change. He spent a decade working in the carbon markets for early pioneers including CantorCO2e and Natural Capital Partners.
Zubair is focused on supporting scalable solutions to support climate change mitigation and development priorities, empowering organizations to make use of finance and policy mechanisms, enabling the use of Natural Climate Solutions to deliver on climate mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity goals, challenging and rethinking outdated models of thinking and practice within existing sectors, using data and technology to evaluate risk and inform better decision making amongst all stakeholders, and breaking down barriers for marginalized and minority groups including people of colour, women and those living in poverty, to ensure their voices are heard in the global climate debate.
Zubair holds a BA Goegraphy from Kings College, University of London, and a Masters in European Business Management, SCP-Europe, and is a Fellow at The Royal Geographical Society.