On August 29, the Global Transitions Programme Committee (GTPC) held its first meeting. Joining from three different countries the committee discussed the start of the first steps for the Global Transitions programme within the Dutch Climate Research Initiative (KIN). KIN is excited to collaborate with this diverse group of experts to ensure innovative, co-creative and impactful KIN initiatives.
What is the GTPC and what do they do?
The Global Transitions Programme Committee monitors the quality of the activities set up by the KIN Global Transitions programme. With the Global Transitions programme, we focus on accelerating local transitions in those countries that have contributed least to climate change but are most vulnerable to its impacts. The committee assesses the quality of new initiatives, evaluates coherence, monitors the implementation, and evaluates the impact of the programme’s results. The committee thus safeguards the KIN goal that all activities are geared towards accelerating system transitions.
Committee members of GTPC
Heleen de Coninck (co-chair)
Heleen is a full Professor of Socio-Technical Innovation and Climate Change at Eindhoven University of Technology, and a Professor in Climate change and system transitions at the Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences at Radboud University Nijmegen’s Faculty of Science. Heleen was an IPCC author and her main research focus is on the role of innovation and technology in the international climate negotiations, on policy for making energy-intensive industry climate-neutral, and on the viability and societal dynamics and technological for 1.5C-mitigation pathways. She is vice-chair of the Scientific Climate Council and played a crucial role in the establishment of KIN, first as chair of the taskforce that wrote the KIN advisory report, and later as a member of the KIN steering committee during its formation.
Maheen Khan (co-chair)
Maheen Khan is Senior Advisor, Climate Resilience at WWF Netherlands and also leads on the UNFCCC adaptation negotiations for WWF at a global level. She was a Lecturer on sustainability and climate change previously at Maastricht University. In addition to her full-time role in WWF, Maheen continues to deliver lectures on climate justice. Maheen has worked in multiple sectors for 12+ years, the experience of which enables her to bring diverse perspectives to her work on climate change issues. As a Bangladeshi, she feels climate action must be exponentially accelerated globally, within which nature and local communities take centre stage, and therefore strives to bridge the gap between the climate and the biodiversity crisis.
Annelieke Douma
Annelieke is interim co-director of the Dutch NGO Both ENDS. Both ENDS envisions a world where human rights are respected, gender justice is realised, and the environment is fostered and protected. Together with over 500 partners across the world, they advocate for just governance worldwide and promote people driven-solutions. Annelieke has a background in International Water Resource Management and over 20 years of experience in the field of development cooperation, climate adaptation and finance, human rights and gender equality. She is the strategic coordinator of the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) programme and network, which catalyses the collective power of women’s rights and environmental justice movements to achieve climate justice.
Debra Roberts
Debra headed the Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit and Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department in eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa). She was elected as Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Co-Chair and was included in a list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy. Debra has been awarded Honorary Doctorates for her local and international climate change and environmental work by the University of Twente (The Netherlands), University of Cape Town (South Africa) and Rhodes University (South Africa). She is currently an Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and currently holds the Professor Willem Schermerhorn Chair in Open Science from a Majority World Perspective at the University of Twente. She is also President of the AXA Research Fund Scientific Board.
Fatima Denton
Fatima is the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA). She was a Programme Leader with the Canada-based International Development Research Centre (IDRC), where she managed high-impact action research, including a major climate change adaptation research programme. Fatima is an IPCC Lead Author and as the holder of the Prince Claus Chair in Equity and Development at Utrecht University, her goal is to democratise the debate around Just Transitions, ensuring voice and participation of those communities most affected by transition processes.
Marcel Beukeboom
Marcel is the Permanent Representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) on behalf of the Netherlands. He has more than 25 years of experience in international cooperation and diplomacy, with an emphasis on sustainability and food systems. Marcel served as the Dutch Special Envoy for Climate and was Head of Food Security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His academic background is in Policy and Governance in International Relations. Marcel is a systems thinker and a connector, with an eye for the longer term.
Shenaaz Moosa
Shehnaaz is co-director at the South African NGO, South South North. She is responsible for CDKN, VCA, CLEAN, ARA and GA LLA, amongst other projects. She has deep theoretical and practical expertise in delivering complex programmes addressing climate change within the African context. Social justice and equity are at the foundation of what informs Shehnaaz’s approach to programme design and local and global interventions. Prior to joining SSN, Shehnaaz was a researcher and lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. She has the dubious honour of being the first female of colour to obtain a doctorate in Chemical Engineering in South Africa.
About Global Transitions
KIN Global Transitions aims to contribute to transitions necessary for a just and climate-neutral and climate resilient society with increased adaptive capacity among vulnerable groups. This is being achieved by identifying and accelerating system transitions appropriate in the local context. KIN GT aims to establish, strengthen and expand collaborations between different types of actors in the system transition, including marginalized groups and women, through just partnerships, capacity building and knowledge sharing. Specifically (Dutch) trade and its negative consequences for local climate resilience and livelihoods are identified and addressed by developing action perspectives for stakeholders to have impact. Programmes directly lead to knowledge on system transitions, new partnerships and new ways of working.
