Forward Talks

Tatiana Antonelli-Abella sits down with the winners of the 2024-25 cohort of the MENAT Regenerative Agriculture Initiative. Now in its second year, the Venture Programme received 660 registration and 190 innovation solutions, each focused on soil regeneration, climate and water-resilient agricultural practices, and addressing food security. This years’s winners are: Omaima Marhane from Actinobacte...

For the final episode of our special mini-series, Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, the world’s largest agricultural innovation network. Dr. Elouafi was just named as one of the 100 most influential people of 2025 by TIME Magazine. Dr. Elouafi shares more about her work at CGIAR and their groundbreaking research, which has transformed...

Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Wassim Said for a special episode of Forward Talks to mark the inaugural World Day for Glaciers and 2025 being the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. Wassim is a Steering Committee member of the Emirates Polar Program in addition to being an Advisor with the UAE’s Presidential Court. Wassim explains the critical role of glaciers as freshwater source...

Part of ‘Take a Breath’ Webinar Series: "Breathing into the Future: Creating Healthier Spaces for Resilient Cities and Communities”. Our opening session, "Indoor Air Quality and Health: Global to Local Challenges and Opportunities" was held on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. Panel of experts included: Heba Safi – World Health Organisation, Technical Officer on Air Quality and Health Vahid Hosseini-...

Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Feras Ziadat, who is currently a Land and Water Officer with a specific focus on land resource management and planning at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. Mr. Ziadat played a pivotal role in coordinating the FAO flagship report titled The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture, SOLO, and he also updating the...

Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Ali Tariq Khan, Senior Advisor for ESG Matters at Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB), a leading corporate, institutional and trade finance bank in Saudi Arabia with a strategic partnership with HSBC Group. In this current role, Ali’s ESG responsibilities include disclosures, governance, policy, training, net-zero commitments and he leads multiple industry initiatives as w...

Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Neal Spackman to discuss the Al Baydah Restoration Project in Saudi Arabia, a groundbreaking project he led in partnership with the King Faisal Foundation, starting with a 100-acre prototype watershed in 2010. Neal is co-founder at Regenerative AquaForestry Technologies, and partner at Regenerative Studios, a design & Strategy consultancy. He focuses on en...

Welcome to Our Land, Our Future , a special mini-series of Forward Talks by Goumbook focused on land restoration and combating desertification. Our first episode features Professor Kaveh Madani, a prominent environmental scientist, educator, and leader known for his work on complex human-natural systems at the interface of science, policy, and society. With over 300 publications, Professor Kaveh i...

Welcome to “Our Land, Our Future,” a special mini-series of Forward Talks by Goumbook focused on land restoration and combating desertification—key topics discussed at the UNCCD COP16, held for the first time in the Middle East, in Riyadh, December 2024. Host Tatiana Antonelli-Abella will be speaking to regional and global stakeholders who are spearheading innovative efforts to protect and restore...

The first MENAT Regenerative Agriculture Venture Program Ceremony took place on the 22nd of May, the International Day of Biological Diversity, where we celebrated the researches and entrepreneurs who hold the keys to solving some of the world’s fundamental agricultural problems. The Regenerative Agriculture Program has been a transformative journey, from the initial open call in 2023. We received...

Tatiana sits down with Sylvain Bonnet, Vice President & Global General Manager for Telfast, a brand under global healthcare company, Sanofi. Sanofi and Telfast have been instrumental towards Goumbook’s Take-a-Breath campaign, an awareness initiative to raise awareness and drive action on indoor air quality, aligning with the UAE Air Quality Agenda 2031. Tatiana and Sylvain talk about Sanofi’s...

We’re continuing our conversation with Tanzeed Alam, MD at Earth Matters. Tanzeed shares his experience with the youth at COP28, and our thoughts on how to involve and educate the next generation to be more involved in climate action. If you haven’t heard Part 1—where we talk about the outcomes of COP28 in the UAE and look ahead to COP29—you’ll find that in your podcast app right before this one....

We’re joined today by Tanzeed Alam, MD at Earth Matters, to talk about the outcomes of COP28 in the UAE, and look ahead to COP29 in Azerbaijan. Tanzeed is the MD of Earth Matters, with extensive experience consulting with private sector and government on climate action. He also took on a special role last year as an advisor at the private office of Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak, the UN High-Leve...

Our latest Think Tank took place on day 13 of COP28 at the Slovenia Pavilion under the Take a Breath campaign , in partnership with Telfast and Sanofi. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness and drive action on indoor air quality, aligning with the UAE Air Quality Agenda 2031. We were joined by Angie Lorena Sanchez Pina, Air Quality Specialist with the Ministry of Climate Change and Envir...

We’re joined for this youth-focused episode by Obaid Ali Alshamshi, a distinguished Emirati biologist, currently leading the Marine Biodiversity Section and the Youth Council at the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and his colleague, Shaemma Rasheed Mebwana, a Climate Change Analyst with the Ministry. We talk about how the UAE Government has been engaging with the youth, involving t...

We’re joined today by Jamila El Mir, senior advisor to the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak. Jamila has over 16 years of experience in environmental and sustainability strategy, and policy development for master planning and citywide planning, urban waste systems and more. We talk about the impact of urban growth and the construction sector on the en...

We’re joined today by Florence Bulte, Chief Sustainability Officer at Chalhoub Group. Chalhoub Group has been a creator of luxury experiences across the Middle East for over six decades, and Florence is responsible for promoting sustainability across the Group through advocacy and partnerships. We talk about how they engage with their supply chain to embed sustainability across the Group, how the...

H.H Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Nuaimi, popularly known as The Green Sheikh, joins us on the episode. Sheikh Abdul Aziz serves as environmental advisor to the Ajman Government and is also the founder of the Al Ihsan Charity , which he started in 1998 and The Green Sheikh Academy in 2018. We talk about his journey to becoming a climate leader, his mission to inspire over a billion individuals through his...

We’re joined on the episode by Andrea Prazakova, Senior Vice President at Mastercard Foundry and ESG for EEMEA. She’s also the co-founder of Space Uncensored, a podcast that aims to amplify the voices of women in the space industry. According to JPMogran, the worldwide digital payments industry is currently estimated at US$ 54 trillion. As this number continues to grow, it provides exciting opport...

We’re joined on the episode by Allyson Anderson Book, Chief Sustainability Officer at Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes develops and deploys advanced technologies to serve energy and industrial companies looking for more efficient, more reliable and cleaner solutions. They operate in 120 countries worldwide and their diverse portfolio of technologies and solutions are transforming how industry works toda...

We’re joined on this episode by by Hossam Allam, Managing Partner at the Climate Resilience Fund , which is focused on climate projects in Africa. Hossam began his career as an environmental engineer at Shell, and working for his family’s construction business in Egypt before making the shift to becoming a full-time investor. We talk about the funding instruments in the climate space, and his expe...

We’re joined today by Mohammed Mahmoud, Director of Climate and Water Program at the Middle East Institute, one of the oldest Washington DC based think-tanks dedicated to the study of the Middle East and its issues. We talk about his role at the Middle East Institute studying the region, and to understand the issues we’re seeing both globally and in the region as a result of climate change. Mohamm...

Welcome to the first episode of our new series, Climate Leaders – Rising up to COP28. We’ll share inspiring stories of sustainability leaders and climate champions, driving impact from our region to the world. We’re joined today by Sheikh Dr. Majid Sultan Al Qassimi. Until 2021, Dr. Majid was the Advisor to the Minister regarding all things Food and Agriculture, at the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Ch...

We’re excited to announce a special series,  Climate Leaders — Rising up to COP28 ,   to mark the ‘Year of Sustainability’ here in the UAE, in the lead up to the UAE hosting the 28th edition of the Conference of Parties (COP28) later this year. We’ll be sharing inspiring stories of sustainability leaders and climate champions, driving impact from our region to the world. This will a special series...

Our latest Think Tank, “Towards Responsible Tourism: Best Practices from the UAE” was held at the Arabian Market a few weeks ago. The Think Tank focused on gathering perspectives from different stakeholders driving impact across a variety of initiatives in sustainable & responsible tourism from the UAE, highlighting Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism’s efforts with the recent relaunch o...