International Advisory Committee

Tony Capon directs the Monash Sustainable Development Institute and holds a chair in planetary health in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. A public health physician and authority in environmental health and health promotion, his research focuses on urbanisation, sustainable development and human health. Tony is a former director of the International Institute for Global Health at United Nations University (UNU-IIGH), and has previously held professorial appointments at the University of Sydney and Australian National University. He is a member of the Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on Planetary Health that published its report Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch in 2015, and the International Advisory Board for The Lancet Planetary Health.

Rita Colwell is Distinguished Professor at U Maryland College Park & Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Chairman Emeritus, Canon U.S. Life Sciences; Founder, CosmosID Inc. She served as 11th Director, National Science Foundation and Co-chair, National Science and Technology Council and elected member of United States National Academy of Sciences, Royal Swedish Academy, Stockholm, Royal Society Canada, Royal Irish and American Academy Arts and Sciences, and American Philosophical Society. She received the Stockholm Water Prize, bestowed by the King of Sweden; Singapore Water Prize; U.S. National Medal of Science, awarded by President of the United States, and Order of Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, bestowed by Emperor of Japan. B.S., M.S., Purdue; Ph.D., U Washington.

Adel El-Beltagy is Chair of the International Dryland Development Commission (IDDC), and Professor at Arid Land Agric. Graduate Studies & Res. Institute, AinShams Univ. Egypt. He is a Board member of TWAS; Former Minister of Agric. & Land Reclamation; Former President, Gov. Board of Int'l Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agro. Studies (CIHEAM); Chair Executive Board, Bibliotheca Alex; Chair, Global Forum on Agric. Res. (GFAR); Served as Vice Chair / Board Member, Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT); UN Millennium Ecosys. Assessment Board; DG, Int'l Center for Agric. Res. in Dry Areas (ICARDA); Has been awarded: Golden Medal / CIHEAM; Commander of Order of Agric. Merit (France); Sultan Qaboos 'First Class' Order for Culture, Sci. & Arts, AlIstiklal Medal by His Majesty King AbdullahIIbin Hussein of Jordan; Fellow of Univ. of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK.

Ismahane Elouafi is Chief Scientist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and part of FAO’s core leadership structure. With nearly two decades of experience in agricultural research and development in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Ms Elouafi is a strong advocate for diversifying into neglected and underutilized crops. She is also internationally known for her work on promoting use of non-fresh water in agriculture and empowerment of women in science. She has been a member of various strategy expert panels and advisory groups. Her contributions to science and policy have been recognized with a number of prestigious awards and accolades, in particular the Excellence in Science Award from the Global Thinkers Forum. Dr. Elouafi holds a Ph.D. in Genetics.

Charles Kennel is a Fellow Commoner of Christ's College, Cambridge, and distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanogarphy, San Diego, USA. He belongs to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. He was previously Professor and Chair of the UCLA Physics Department and UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor, NASA Associate Administrator for Mission to Planet Earth, and Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He chaired the U.S. National Academy's Board on Physics and Astronomy and Space Studies and its committees on Global Change Research and Fusion Sciences. He was a member of the NASA Advisory Council for 12 years.

Phoebe Koundouri is Professor at the School of Economics and Director of Research laboratory on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability – ReSEES at the Athens University of Economics and Business, Professor at the Department of Technology, Management and Economics at Denmark Technical University, Director of the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) at ATHENA Research Center, President of the European Scientific Association of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists (EAERE), Member of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS), Member of the Academia Europae, Member of the Nominating Committee for the Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences. She is also Chair of the UN SDSN Global Climate Hub, co-chair of SDSN Europe & SDSN Greece.

Margaret Leinen is the Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor for Marine Science of University of California at San Diego. Dr. Leinen is an ocean biogeochemist and paleoceanographer whose research includes study of ocean carbon cycling and the role of the oceans in climate. She is also Past President of the American Geophysical Union, and has also served as the President of The Oceanography Society and Chair of the AAAS Section on Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Science. She served as Assistant Director for Geosciences, U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2000-2007. She has been the Vice Chair of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, Chair of the US Global Change Research Program and Vice Chair of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.

Cherry Murray, Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Professor of Physics, Emerita, Harvard University, is Deputy Director of Research, Biosphere2 and Professor of Physics at University of Arizona. and past co-chair of the UN 10-Member Group. Dr. Murray served as Director of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science from 2015 until 2017. She was dean of Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences from 2009 until 2014, Principal Associate Director for Science and Technology from 2004 to 2009 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. From 1978 to 2004, Dr. Murray held a number of positions including Senior VP at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Ismail Serageldin is the Emeritus Librarian of Alexandria, and was the Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the New Library of Alexandria in Egypt (2001-2017). Before that he was the Vice-President of the World Bank (1993-2000). He has received many awards including the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan. He is a knight of the French Legion d’Honneur and a Commander of Arts and Letters of the French Republic. He has lectured widely, published more than 100 books and 500 articles. He graduated in engineering at the University in Cairo, finished his masters and PhD studies at Harvard University and has received over 39 honorary doctorates from all over the world.

Kazuhiko Takeuchi is President of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and a Project Professor at the Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo. He served as Senior Vice-Rector of the United Nations University (UNU) and currently holds a position as Visiting Professor at UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). He has served, inter alia, as Acting Chair of the Central Environment Council; and Chair of the Nature Conservation Committee of the Central Environment Council, Government of Japan, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Sustainability Science (Springer Nature), and Distinguished Chair, Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies, University of Nairobi.

Makoto Taniguchi is a hydrologist and a deputy director-general of Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan. He is IUGG Fellow, JpGU Fellow, Cooperation Member of Science Council of Japan, and a Future Earth Assembly member, Steering Committee member of Water-Energy-Food Nexus KAN. He was a Vice President of International Association of Hydrogeologists of IUGS, Union Commission Member of Climate and Environmental Change under IUGG, and Vice President of Groundwater Commission of IAHS/IUGG. He has worked on water-related projects around the world, authoring or co-authoring over 200 articles and 8 books including Groundwater and Subsurface Environment, The Dilemma of Boundaries, and Groundwater as a Key for Adaptation to the Changing Climate and Society.

Chiho Watanabe took his current position in April 2021 at Nagasaki University where he is responsible for advocating "Planetary Health", an ecological perspective of the human society - nature relationship. He has been engaged in several inter-disciplinary projects/initiatives associated with the issue of sustainability and health including the Health Global Research Network (ex-Knowledge-Action-Network) of Future Earth, Planetary Health Alliance. He was a Professor of the University of Tokyo from 2005 to 2017, the President of National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan from 2017 to 2021 and also served as President of the Society of Health and Human Ecology (Japan), Society of Environmental Science, Japan, and was former Vice-President of the Society of Human Ecology (international).