Full Name: Dr. Atiq Rahman

Areas of expertise: Environment and nature conservation, climate change, poverty alleviation, sustainable development

Affiliation: Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS)

Current Position: Executive Director

Place of Birth: Bangladesh

Home District: Barisal

Nationality: Bangladeshi

Profile:

Dr. Atiq Rahman is a Bangladeshi environmentalist, climate scientist, development expert and a visionary thinker. 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.

Rahman's father M M Khabir Uddin was a government official. After 1947 he moved to Dhaka from Barisal. Atiq Rahman showed merit in academic examinations from his childhood. He received his early education from Palashi Barracks School. From there, he got a scholarship in class five in 1960. He admitted to Western School in the class six. At this age, he would take the responsibility of teaching whenever he saw inattentive students in the neighborhood. Then when he got up in class seventh, he went to Fauzdarhat Cadet College. Then he passed ISC from Fauzdarhat Cadet College. Then he decided to study economics at Dhaka University. But at the end he had to study Chemistry at Dhaka University.

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, Rahman's expertise remains vital throughout the Asia Pacific region and beyond as he helps to raise awareness of the hazards of global warming. He has been conferred with the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) ‘Champions of the Earth 2008’ award.

An author and consultant, Rahman 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. Rahman has been a consultant to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), UNDP, UN-DESA, UNEP, IFAD, ESCAP, UNCTAD, UNICEF, UNESCO, many national governments, several national and international NGOs.

Rahman 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. He 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 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.

EXAMPLES OF MORE RECENT AND RELEVANT REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS:   

• Shrimp Farming and Industry. Sustainablilty Trade and Livelihoods. Editors: A Atiq Rahman, AHG Quddus, Bob Pokrant, Md. Liaquat Ali. Published 2006
• Sustainable Development and Climate Change by Atiq Rahman and Dwijen Mallick (Climate Policy for the 21st Centure: Meeting the Long-Term Challenge of Gloobal Warming edited by David Michel) 2004
• Prospects of Solar PV Systems in Bangladesh by Saleemul Huq, Atiq Rahman and M. Eusuf (Solar Photovoltaic Systems in Bangladesh: Experiences and Opportunities edited by M Eusuf) 2005
• Sharing the Planet- Population-Consumption-Species (van der Zwaan & Petersen, eds); Sustainability of the Planet and International Politics: Looking for an Effective Global Governance by A. Rahman and D. Mallick; Eburon Publishers-2003
• Deeper Cuts and Greater Adaptation by Atiq Rahman (ClimeAsia, Climate Action Network-South Asia specially publised for COP11/MOP1, Montreal, Canada Nov-Dec. 2005)
• Environment, Development and Human Security; Edited by Adil Najam; Environment and Security in Bangladesh by A.A. Rahman, Z.H. Chowdhury & A. U. Ahmed; University Press of America, INC; 2003
• Environment and Development in Bangladesh Volumn I and II.  Editors: A Atiq Rahman, Saleemul Haq, Raana Haider and Eirik G Jansen. Plublised in 1994
• Diffusion Potential of Renewable Energy Technology for Sustainable Development of Bangladesh: Bangladesh Experiences, Mozaharul Alam, Atiq Rahman and Muhammed Eusuf. In Energy for Sustainable Development, Special Issue on Bangladesh, Volume VII, No. 2, June 2003.

PUBLICATIONS:

1. SCIENTIFIC AND POLICY PAPERS.

• Published over 100 papers in international journals and books on environ­mental and solid state chemistry, environmental planning and impact assessment and renewal energy technology and policy, Natural disasters and global planning issues, Science-Policy-People Interface since 1975, as a scientist, researcher and policy planner.

1. BOOKS

• Co-editor, “Groundwater Resources and Development in Bangladesh: Background to the Arsenic Crisis, Agricultural Potential and Environment”; A. Atiq Rahman and Peter Ravenscroft-2003.
• Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change in Least Developed Countries (LDCs); Saleemul Huq, Atiq Rahman, Mama Konate, Youba Sokona and Hannah Reid- April 2003, (London: International Institute for Environment and Development, April); available at: http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdf/full/9219IIED.pdf
• Exploding the population Myth Consumption versus Population. Which is the Climate Bomb?. Editors: A Atiq Rahman, nick Robins and Annie Roncerel. Published in 1994
• “Linking climate adaptation and development: a synthesis of six case studies from Asia and Africa” ; Huq, Saleemul; Farhana Yamin; Atiq Rahman; Anish Chatterjee; Xiu Yang; Salimata Wade; Victor Orindi; and Johannes Chigwada (2005) (Brighton, UK: Institute for Development Studies (IDS) IDS Bulletin, Vol. 36, No. 4 (October), pp. 117-122; available at: http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk
• While researching and teaching at Aberdeen University, UK, Dr Rahman along with Professor, F.P. Glasser, wrote the book on "Cements in Radio Active Waste Management" commissioned and published by EEC, Director General Science and Technology, Brussels, 1987.
• Co-editor of “Environment and Poverty: Key Linkages for Global Sustainable Development, University Press Limited”, 1998.

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