Roster of Loss and Damage Experts

Experts

Justina Aurea Da Costa Belo

Justina is a climate negotiator from Timor-Leste and a national expert on Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) Verification. She began representing her country in the climate change negotiations under the UNFCCC in late 2019 at COP25 in Madrid. In her role as a negotiator, she supports the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) coordinators on Loss and Damage. In addition, she coordinates the New Generation program under the Climate Leadership Initiative and the L&DC which aims to empower young negotiators from vulnerable developing countries. At home in Timor-Leste, Justina leads the implementation of national programmes under the Montreal Protocol and works closely with both UNEP and UNDP regionally through this role.

@justina_aurea

Leia Achampong

Leia Achampong is a climate justice and women’s rights activist and has a Masters degree in Sustainability Sciences and Policy (MsC) from Maastricht University. With over 10 years experience, Achampong has a background in research, policy analysis and advocacy on climate change issues. Leia’s current research focus is on the best ways to strengthen financial mechanisms to increase the quality and additionality of climate finance. Presently, Leia works at Eurodad on climate finance and climate justice, and engages in the Loss and Damage Collaboration in a personal capacity.

@LeiaLdn

ISTIAKH AHMED

Istiakh Ahmed is a doctoral student at the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, Boston, USA. Before starting his PhD, he worked as an Advisor - Climate Adaptation, NAP and NDC support programme at GIZ Bangladesh. Earlier He worked at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) as a ‘senior programme coordinator’ managing the Loss and Damage programme. He has published several journal articles, book chapters, working papers, research reports, blogs and op-eds on climate change adaptation and loss and damage.

@Istiakh_Ahmed

Inès Bakhtaoui

Inès is a researcher on the effectiveness of finance directed towards adaptation and loss and damage. She stands by communities vulnerable to climate change by identifying feasible, just and equitable ways to channel funding to support their resilience and recovery from climate impacts. She currently works for the Stockholm Environment Institute, and contributes to the collective effort of the L&DC on Loss and Damage finance.

@BakhtaouiInes

Christopher Bartlett

Dr. Christopher Bartlett has been living and working in the Pacific Islands for over two decades, and is currently managing the Government of Vanuatu's Climate Diplomacy program. His extensive work with communities, civil society, private sector and governments in the Pacific have shaped his current climate action interests around climate adaptation, biodiversity, development finance and loss and damage. After being awarded a PhD at James Cook University, he joined Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom's lab at Indiana University as a postdoc focusing on global multidimensional resource management problems. Dr. Bartlett has written dozens of climate policy documents, managed the implementation of multiple national climate change projects, and serves as the lead negotiator on Loss & Damage for the Republic of Vanuatu.

Pierre Candelon

Pierre Candelon is a specialist in public policies on environment, development, and climate change, with more than 10 years of experience in various settings (public, private, and academia), across different regions of the world. Since 2016, he has been actively involved in the field of climate diplomacy, initially serving in the French delegation, then acting as a strategy coordinator for the Loss and Damage Collaboration, and finally as an advisor within the AOSIS group. He is currently stationed at UNDP but continues to contribute to the work of the Collaboration through his research, focusing primarily on governance mechanisms for Loss & Damage, as well as exploring the intricate relationship between international advocacy strategies and their tangible effects on communities, aiming to foster innovative forms of inter-institutional diplomacy and effective program management.

@pierre_candelon

Raju Pandit Chhetri

Raju Pandit Chhetri works in the field of environment and development with over fifteen years of work experience in different organizations. Currently, he leads a Kathmandu based Nepali organisation, the Prakriti Resources Centre (PRC), that promotes climate justice and sustainable development. Raju closely follows international climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Green Climate Fund. He supports the Least Developed Countries Group in climate finance matters at the UNFCCC negotiations and advises the LDC Board Members of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). He is also a Climate Finance Technical Committee member in the Ministry of Finance, Nepal. Raju co-chairs the finance working group of the independent Global Stock Take (iGST). He has written and contributed to several papers on climate change, climate finance and loss and damage.

@rajupchhetri

Edgar Fernández Fernández

Edgar is an environmental and Earth System lawyer and researcher with vast experience in UNFCCC negotiations. Before assuming his current role as senior associate with Transforma, where he works in the Global Stocktake team, Edgar worked for three years as advisor on adaptation and Loss and Damage for the Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC). He was also a negotiator for Costa Rica and AILAC from COP21 to COP25, including as lead negotiator on the modalities and procedures of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee (PAICC) and negotiator on the operationalization of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform and on different negotiation tracks related to ambition. He is currently an Alternate Member of the PAICC. Edgar is also an associate researcher with the University of Rennes, France, and research fellow of the Earth System Governance Project.

@EdgarFerFer

Saleemul Huq

Professor Saleemul Huq was the Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) and Professor at the Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) as well as Associate of the International Institute on Environment and Development (IIED) in the United Kingdom. In addition, he was the Chair of the Expert Advisory Group for the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and also Senior Adviser on Locally Led Adaptation with Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) headquartered in the Netherlands. Saleem sadly passed away in late 2023. His work has been instrumental in shaping Loss and Damage over the past decade and he is greatly missed. Along with his roles as a researcher and academic, Saleem was a visionary thought leader, an innovator and a rebel. We are committed to carrying on his legacy and hope he would be proud of the work we are doing.

@SaleemulHuq

GUY JACKSON

Guy Jackson is a human geographer, based at the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Sweden, exploring the drivers of vulnerability in socio-ecological systems. Guy is currently working on the project Recasting the Disproportionate Impacts of Climate Change Extremes at LUCSUS. Guy’s current research explores people’s experience of loss, adaptation, and immobilities. Underlying this research is an interest in understanding the (re)production of vulnerability at different spatial and temporal scales. This research seeks to further our understanding of loss and damage by using an intersectional lens and transdisciplinary approaches.

@Guy_R_Jackson

Tetet Lauron

Tetet is an activist and development worker with almost 30 years’ experience in multidisciplinary and multi-cultural settings at grassroots, national, regional and international levels. She works on different development issues and themes, but is most passionate about climate justice. Tetet strives to make the climate negotiations on finance, particularly loss and damage finance, accessible to a broader audience as a contribution to growing stronger global movements for climate justice.

@tetetlauron

Adrián Martínez

MA. Adrián Martínez Blanco is the Director and founder of La Ruta del Clima. Alexander von Humboldt - ICC Alumni. PhD candidate at the University of Eastern Finland. Master in Environment, Development and Peace. Researcher and consultant on public participation, human rights, loss and damage, and international climate law.

@adrianmb_cr

KAREN MCNAMARA

Karen McNamara, of the University of Queensland Australia, is a development geographer interested in how livelihoods can be enhanced to respond to the triple crises of poverty, disaster risk and climate change; with extensive experience working throughout the Asia-Pacific.

@ke_mcnamara

Colin McQuistan

Colin is the Head of Climate and Resilience Team in the Influence, Impact and Innovation directorate at Practical Action. He is responsible for Practical Action’s global development work ensuring that they are not only adapting to the challenge of climate change and reducing risk, but that this is done in a way that builds the resilience of current and future populations. Before Colin joined Practical Action, he was the Senior Adviser, Agriculture and Climate Change at Oxfam GB.

@ColinMcQuistan

Dennis Mombauer

Dennis works as Director of Research & Knowledge Management at SLYCAN Trust, a non-profit think tank focused on climate change adaptation, resilience-building, and Loss and Damage. He covers a range of topics related to loss & damage including risk management, climate finance, and human mobility. Dennis is a member of several international networks and expert groups and a regular contributor to national and international media outlets.

@DMombauer

Camilla More

Camilla is an Australian lawyer who has been following the UN climate negotiations closely since 2017. She works inInternational Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)’s Global Climate Law, Policy and Governance Team to support the Least Developed Countries Group achieve equitable and ambitious outcomes in UN climate negotiations, particularly those related to loss and damage. Camilla passionately hates jargon, but sometimes can’t help it.

@MoreCamilla

Eva Peace MUKAYIRANGA

Eva works to advance vulnerable countries' priorities on climate finance and Loss and Damage in international policy fora. She has followed the UNFCCC negotiations since 2018 as a climate finance negotiator. In addition, she co-coordinates the L&DC's finance working group and is the co-founder of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition, where she serves as the coordinator of the training working group.

@MukayirangaEva

Sabine Minninger

Sabine is a Senior Policy Advisor on Climate Change with the German aid agency, Bread for the World dealing with climate change and development issues. For 16 years she has been following the UNFCCC process together with partner organizations from the Global South calling for climate justice. She is highly involved in the work on addressing climate induced loss and damage and climate-induced migration with a special focus on the small island development states such as Tuvalu. Sabine is a founding member of the Loss and Damage Collaboration, she substantially supported the work from the beginning and helped to get the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition (LDYC) started.

@SabineMinninger

Brenda Mwale

Brenda Mwale is a climate change advocate based in Malawi. She is a collective of more than 7 years’ experience in community engagement and mobilisation, policy advocacy, leadership project management and youth and gender mainstreaming. She is currently working with Green Girls Platform which is a female led organisation working to address challenges that women and girls face due to climate induced disasters. She is a junior climate change negotiator for Malawi on Loss and Damage since COP26. She is currently co-coordinating the L&DC Finance Working Group and an active member of the LDYC. She is also a farmer and Founder of Glow Foods and she uses the space to advocate for sustainable food systems. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Climate Change and Sustainable Development with Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

@brendamwale3

Hyacinthe Niyitegeka

Hyacinthe is a water scientist with experience working on climate policy in different contexts. She is responsible for the coordination of the L&DC. Hyacinthe works with the core team to set goals and develop strategies for achieving them. She supports the broader membership of the L&DC and ensures coordination by working closely with leaders of our projects, programs and initiatives. Hyacinthe is a co-founder of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition (LDYC) and co-leads their advocacy work.

@nhyacinthe791

Fanny Petitbon

Fanny has been coordinating CARE France policy and advocacy work since 2013. Coming from an organisation engaged in both humanitarian aid and long term development in a number of developing countries, she has developed a solid expertise in international climate negotiations. Fanny has been specifically focusing on loss and damage advocacy in France and the European Union. She has also played a very active role in the drafting of the Humanitarian Aid Donors’ Declaration on Climate and Environment launched at the first European Humanitarian Forum in March 2022.

@FannyPetitbon

Joy Reyes

Joy is a climate justice lawyer working with indigenous peoples, youth climate activists, and women environmental defenders. She is a staff lawyer at the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), the Philippine arm of Friends of the Earth, and is Technical Advisor on Legal and Policy at the Manila Observatory. Her work revolves around loss and damage, human and environmental rights, and climate justice. She is passionate about climate education and making climate concepts accessible to the wider public.

@jamjoyrey_

Julie-Anne Richards

Julie-Anne has worked in climate change for two decades. She drives for positive change by developing insightful strategy, collaborating, building alliances, and establishing and implementing campaigns. An international expert on loss and damage finance, she has written many papers on the subject, run campaigns and worked with civil society and vulnerable countries at the UNFCCC and the WIM. Julie-Anne is based on the land of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation (Sydney, Australia).

@jar_climate

Erin Roberts

Erin is a climate policy researcher with a multi-disciplinary background. She has degrees in biology, international relations and international development with a PhD on the way in which leadership shaped the evolution of Loss and Damage policy in Bangladesh. She remains curious about how leadership can contribute to scaling up climate action on all fronts. Erin has worked in a range of geographical contexts and has supported both the Least Developed Country (LDC) Group and the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) in the global climate negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She also worked in the African SIDS with the African Climate Policy Centre and the Africa Adaptation Initiative while supporting the AGN In every aspect of her work Erin endeavours to empower young climate leaders from the global South including through her role as founder and convener of the Climate Leadership Initiative.

@Rininreallife

Laura Schäfer

Laura is Senior Advisor - Climate Risk Management, at Germanwatch, where she focuses on how to increase the resilience of vulnerable people and communities to the impacts of climate change. She primarily concentrates on financial climate risk management measures, including climate risk insurance solutions, and how to design them for the benefit of most vulnerable people. In her work on the Climate Risk Index she analyses weather-related damage events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.) and their effects on states worldwide. She follows the UNFCCC climate negotiations on Loss and Damage. (engages in the Loss and Damage Collaboration in a personal capacity).

@lauram_schaefer

sindra sharma

Sindra has a background in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, economics and international development. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics. Hailing from Fiji, her work has always centred on climate justice with a focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and developing countries. She has contributed to the climate dialogue by advising SIDS negotiators and working with Civil Society to advance climate justice narratives in policy discussions and broader contexts, approaching loss and damage in a holistic and integrated manner. Her roles include advisor to the COP23 Presidency Chief Negotiator, Global Policy Lead at Climate Action Network (CAN) International, and Senior Policy Advisor at Pacific Islands CAN. She oversees the L&DC’s strategic planning, working with members to develop and execute comprehensive strategic plans in alignment with the L&DC’s overarching goal and mission statement.

Zoha Shawoo

Zoha Shawoo is a scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), working in the Equitable Transitions program. Her research focuses on the relationship between climate change, sustainable development and inequality, including how national climate policies can be designed without generating tradeoffs for particularly vulnerable and marginalised populations. Zoha also co-leads SEI’s work on loss and damage finance, which investigates how the new Loss and Damage fund can be operationalised to best serve the needs and priorities of local communities.ve mainly been around building the evidence base for why loss and damage finance is needed, supporting youth and people from the global south in climate negotiations, and in understanding how loss and damage and humanitarian action fits together.

@ZShawoo

Linda Siegele

Linda Siegele, JD LLM is an environmental lawyer and independent consultant. 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 in developing countries. 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 legal and policy advice. Linda has been a member of the WIM ExCom's Technical Expert Group on Comprehensive Risk Management since 2019.

Teo Ormond- Skeaping

Teo is an award winning artist, filmmaker and photographer working on projects relating to political ecology, Loss and Damage, climate-induced migration and displacement, Slow Violence and the political and cultural critique of the Anthropocene. Teo also works to coordinate the Loss and Damage collaborations Advocacy and Outreach program and Art and Culture program and their communications work.

@TeoSkeaping

Mattias Soderberg

Mattias Söderberg is working as Chief advisor in the Danish NGO, DanChurchAid, and is Co-Chair of the Climate Justice Group of the global ACT Alliance. Coming from an organisation engaged in both humanitarian aid and long term development on the ground in a number of developing countries, he has followed the international climate debate for more than a decade. Mattias is an active voice in the debate about Loss and Damage, and has contributed to a number of related research initiatives.

@Mattias_S

Rebecca Thissen

Since September 2023, Rebecca has been the Global Lead of Multilateral process at Climate Action International (CAN-I). She is working on the transversal issue of transforming the financial system, both inside and outside the UNFCCC and follows other multilateral processes closely to ensure that climate justice and equity are part of the agenda. She was previously a climate justice policy officer at CNCD-11.11.11 (National Centre of Development Cooperation in Belgium). There, she was, among other things, appointed as a technical expert to support Wallonia in its commitment to finance Loss and Damage. She worked closely with Global South partners to build campaigns and strategies, especially around the COPs. Rebecca has been attending COPs every year since 2018 as a member of the official Belgian delegation to the UNFCCC. This experience made her an expert in climate negotiations and made her understand the importance of civil society within them.

@rebecca_thissen

Adelle Thomas

Dr. Adelle Thomas is Senior Fellow of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Centre at University of The Bahamas and Caribbean Science Lead with Climate Analytics. As a human-environment geographer, her research has focused on adaptation, loss and damage and vulnerability of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to climate change. Dr. Thomas has worked for over fifteen years on intersections between climate change adaptation, disaster risk management and sustainable development. She has authored a variety of academic publications and has also served as a Lead Author on several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports including the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C, the Fifth Assessment Report and the Sixth Assessment Report, focusing on key risks across regions and sectors and limits to adaptation.

@adelle_SIDS

Lien Vandamme

Lien Vandamme (she/her) is a Geneva-based Senior Campaigner for Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)’s Climate and Energy Program. Lien contributes to CIEL’s work on human rights and climate change, in particular, related to loss and damage. She co-facilitates the Human Rights and Climate Change Working Group, convening civil society organisations, Indigenous Peoples representatives and other experts advocating for the promotion and respect of human rights in climate action, and focuses on the UN climate change regime and the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

@lienvandamme

DOUWE VAN SCHIE

Douwe van Schie is a researcher focussing on on-the-ground experiences of loss and damage. He does this in collaboration with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and International Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCCAD). Initially, Douwe focussed on non-economic impacts. However, he has shifted to a values-based approach which unifies the concepts of economic and non-econoimc loss and damage.

@douwevanschie

Lyndsay Walsh

Lyndsay works for Oxfam as a climate policy adviser, where a lot of her work has focused on loss and damage advocacy both in the UK and internationally. Her projects to date have mainly been around building the evidence base for why loss and damage finance is needed, supporting youth and people from the global south in climate negotiations, and in understanding how loss and damage and humanitarian action fits together.

@LyndsayWalsh4

Ben Wilson

Ben Wilson is Partner Advocacy Officer at the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF). His role focuses on offering technical support for policy and advocacy activities for SCIAF’s international partners, especially in relation to climate justice, food systems and specifically Loss and Damage. Ben advocated for Scotland’s commitment to Loss and Damage for 18 months in the build up to COP26, and is now supporting the delivery of the Scottish Government’s Loss and Damage programming with communities impacted by extreme weather in southern Malawi. He holds a PhD in the Sociology of Development from the University of Glasgow, which took a post-colonial approach to analyse Scotland’s international development relations.

@MbobaBen

Nataniel Warszawski

Nate is a Research Associate for the World Resources Institute’s Climate Program supporting the International Climate Action Team. He focuses on climate justice at the international level. In his role, he provides research and analysis on issues relating to the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement, and its implementation. Nate also co-leads the Allied for Climate Transformation By 2025 (ACT2025) Consortium, which convenes key stakeholders to identify and agree on how to design just and ambitious outcomes at UN climate negotiations. He also helps lead WRI’s work on loss and damage with particular focus on the UNFCCC negotiations process. Nate has served on a few other teams across the Institute, including the NDC Partnership, the Global Commission on Adaptation, the Gender & Social Equity Initiative, and the Governance Center. Prior to joining WRI, Nate worked for a DC-based international development firm.

@NateWarszawski

Heidi White

Heidi is an Australian lawyer and independent consultant. She undertakes various roles supporting both government and non-government actors to make progress in the UNFCCC negotiations on Loss and Damage. She has particular expertise on the Santiago Network negotiations which she sees as an important opportunity to enhance action and support for developing countries to address loss and damage in their communities. She was previously an associate at the Federal Court of Australia.

@HeidiMareeWhite