Atiq Rahman

Scientist, Environmentalist

Visiting & Regular Faculty

Dr Atiq Rahman is a prominent environmentalist, scientist, development expert and a visionary thinker in South Asia. He is well-known worldwide for his pioneering role and contribution to environment and nature conservation, climate change, Poverty alleviation and sustainable development. He was honored with the highest UN- Environmental Award, the Champion of the Earth, for the year 2008 in recognition of his outstanding and inspirational leadership and contribution globally, regionally, nationally and locally, to the protection and sustainable management of the Earth’s environment and natural resources. Another outstanding achievement in the same year given by the Government of Bangladesh was the National Environment Award (Poribesh Padak) for the category of innovative environmental research and technology development. The citation states about “His extensive publications on environment, natural resources, development, poverty, good governance and climate change issues are inspirational to his peers globally and widely quoted references for researchers, academicians, and development professionals at home and abroad”. He is a long standing lead author (LA) and convening lead author of (CLA) of IPCC. As a lead author of the IPCC fourth Assessment, he was a co-recipient of the “Nobel Peace Prize” of 2007, jointly awarded to IPCC and Al-Gore.

Dr Atiq Rahman holds a PhD in Industrial and Applied Chemistry from Brunel University of West London. The Executive Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), he has transformed this NGO into a leading think-tank on environment, resource management and sustainable development issues. With his national and international experience in environment and resource management, Dr. Rahman’s expertise remains vital throughout the Asia Pacific region and beyond as he helps to raise awareness of the hazards of global warming. Dr. Rahman has been conferred with the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) ‘Champions of the Earth 2008’ award.

An author and consultant, he has a number of publications to his name and has developed an innovative post-graduate course on sustainable development. He is also the Convener of a regional network – Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) and the Coordinator of the Global Forum on the Environment and Poverty (GFEP), an international network mandated at UNCED. Dr. Rahman has been a consultant to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), UNDP, UN-DESA, UNEP, IFAD, ESCAP, UNCTAD, Asian Development Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, many national governments, several national and international NGOs.

He is known for his wide range of national and international experiences in sustainable development, resource management, poverty and equity, disaster management, global governance and capacity building. Leading the team of the National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA) and a lead author of IPCC are major highlights in his volume of work. Dr Rahman, spearheads several networks and associations, he is a Coordinator of the Global Forum on the Environment and Poverty (GFEP), Chairman of the Synthesis Committee of the Bangladesh National Environment Management Action Plan (NEMAP) and also the Chairman of Steering Committee; Asia Pacific National Councils for Sustainable Development (APNCSD) which has its Secretariat based in Manila. He is the Bangladesh Focal point of South Asian Poverty Commission follow up actions and is also a Reviewer of the World Energy Assessment (1999) by the World Energy Council.

Since 1996 Dr. Rahman has been a Visiting Professor to the International Diplomacy and Sustainable Development at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in Boston in USA. He has designed, developed and taught multi-disciplinary post graduate course on Sustainable Development Challenges and North South Dialogue at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA.  He was a Faculty Member of the International Programme on the Management of Sustainability (IPMS) for the Sustainability Challenge Foundation in the Netherlands. He is co-chair of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) and also co-chair of the International Project Advisory Counsel “Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation” (ESPA) as research grant by UK research council and DFID.