2022 LOCAL
ADAPTATION
CHAMPIONS AWARDS

Prof. Dr. Patrick V. Verkooijen is CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation, and he also serves as the Distinguished Chair of the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies at the University of Nairobi and as the Ban Ki-moon Chair on Climate Adaptation Governance at the University of Groningen. Prof. Verkooijen has also previously served as the World Bank Group Special Representative on Climate Change.

Ban Ki-moon was the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations. His priorities have been to mobilize world leaders around a set of new global challenges, from climate change and economic upheaval to pandemics and increasing pressures involving food, energy, and water.

Anna is a Senior Climate Change and Environment Adviser for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. She has been based in Dhaka since 2019 but has also worked on adaptation, mitigation and environment projects in Nigeria, Afghanistan, Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean. She has also worked as a negotiator for several international environmental agreements. She has a Masters degree in Environmental Law.

Anju is the Global Lead on Locally Led Adaptation at the Global Center on Adaptation. She has been Deputy Director of Oxford Climate Policy, and Head of the Policy and Publications Unit of the European Capacity Building Initiative. She is an Associate with the Stockholm Environment Institute and has been a Consultant with the International Institute for Sustainable Development and Visiting Fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development. Anju has previously worked with the UN Environment Programme in Kenya, Oxfam GB in the UK, and the Centre for Science and Environment in India. She has also worked as a Consultant for a number of international organizations, including the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Development Program.