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Organization

  1. A. Executive Committee (Excom) consists of minimum 5 members as follows:
  2. Chairperson who is Chief Executive Officer,
  3. Executive Secretary, responsible for office and minutes of of meetings.
  4. Chief Financial Officer, responcible for accounts
  5. Membership Committee Chair, resposible for inducting members and joined by any other Excom member, as decided by Excom.
  6. Project / Program member.
  7. Other Excom members, may be assigned responsibilities as decided by Excom
  1. Advisory Committee consists of minimum 3 members:

The Advisory Committee members are appointed by the Executive Committee from amongst the people who had made significant contribution to the ccountry’s weather environment field. The Advisory Committee makes recommendations to Excom but their recommendations are not binding on the Excom.

  1. Profile Summaries of Excom & Advisory Committee Members:

Founding Members & EXCOM Members:

Nisar A Memon (Chairman), Dr Arshad M Khan, Ghazzanfar Ali, Dr. Shakil Ahmad, Syed Raghib Abbas Shah, Dr. Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, Dr. Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry, Mr. Rabel Z Akhund, Mr. Khalid Majid FCA and Dr Ghulam Rasul 

1. Nisar A Memon – Chairman, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

Business: Information Technology business for 30 years with IBM in Pakistan, Europe and Middle East. Was Chief Executive of IBM in Pakistan and rpresented company in various business and trade bodies as well as government forums, including Pakistan Investment Conference in New York and World Economic Forum in Davos.

Chaired Board of Directors Engro Chemicals Ltd (formerly Exxon) and participated as Director on Board of Pakistan State Oil, American Life, Capital Asset Leasing.

Elected as President: Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) Pakistan and American Business Council (ABC) Pakistan.

Socio Economic: Organized adult literacy for over 8,000 women, through 300 centres, in rural areas of Pakistan and Computer Literacy Project in various Pakistan Schools. Provided electricity, roads, natural gas, solar energy, building two room schools and Basic Health Units under Senators Development Funds. Served as founder President of  The Reformers, a civic organisation, Karachi.

Chaired Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources and Member Board of Governor Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resource.

Water Resource Management for Pakistan recommended to Pakistan Parliament as Committee Chair, with four members of National Assembly and four members of Senate, based on one year of study, past reports, meetings with high government officials, interviews with all stake holders in all four provinces of Pakistan. Key recommendation of building large hydro Diamer Basha Dam adopted and being implemented by government. Participated as Pakistan delegate to World Bank regional dialogue meetings on waters of Himalayas and  selected as Knowledge Committee member from Pakistan and as country representative on Indus Forum of South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI)

Environment of Karachi studied and conducted stakeholders Conference subsequently a report was prepared and presented to various agencies. Environment damages to Defence was studied in Karachi and recommended to parliament and Prime Minister. All recommendations accepted and implemented.

Education: Served on Selection Board of Sindh University, Syndicate of Karachi University, and continue to participate as member Board of Governors, FAST National University,

Governance: Managed Ministry of Information & Broadcasting three time and acted as spokesman of the government and cabinet during that period. Chaired Senate Standing Committee on Defence & Defence Production by oversight of Defence & Defence Production facilities of government of Pakistan as well as oversight of Pakistan International Airlines and Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan. Participated as Senate Finance Committee member in recommending various amendments to Pakistan Budgets. As member of Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, participated in meetings at home and abroad, with various countries

Education: M. Sc. from Karachi University

Related Web sites:  www.plp.org.pk   nisaramemon.blogspot.com

2. Dr. Shakil Ahmad– Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

Dr Shakil Ahmad is a Water Resources Engineer at NUST Islamabad.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS:

Almost 17 years of professional experience in water resource engineering & atmospheric science fields comprising: hydrological & hydraulic studies, water availability studies, flood analysis i.e. frequency analysis & probable maximum flood, flood routing, reservoir capacity, sedimentation, optimization & operation studies, climate system & water cycle variability, etc. Carried out hydrological & hydrodynamic modelling on variety of hydraulic structures like dams, barrages, bridges, culverts, storm drainge network, etc in addition to hydropower, water resources management & environmental projects.

Academic contribution by supervising students enrolled both in undergraduate & postgraduate programs in addition of teaching subjects like: Climate Change & Hydrological Cycle, Engineering Hydrology, Irrigation Engineering, Fluid Mechanics, Hydraulic Engineering, Water Resources Management, Dynamical Meteorology, etc.

Supervised various water resources development & management projects for planning, feasibility, design, implementation, execution, monitoring and evaluation. Conducted socio-agro-economic survey and also supervised construction of various water resources development & management schemes (like water harvesting structures, water lifting devices, tube wells, water channels/courses lining, water catch drains, check dams, terrace/protection wall, diversion channel/wall, sprinkler/trickle irrigation systems, land levelling, etc) through community/beneficiary participation. Further designed & conducted farmers & professionals training programs for enhancing their in-depth knowledge regarding water resources management, construction techniques and cost estimation.

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION:

  • PhD Civil Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, 2012.
  • M.Sc. Water Resources Engineering,Center of Excellence in Water Resources Engineering, University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, 2001.
  • B.Sc. Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 1997

3. Engr. Syed Raghib Abbas Shah–  Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

Had primary, secondary and higher education from Larkana Sindh, Pakistan. Did engineering graduation in 1970 from NED College Karachi and bachelor degree in Arts & Law from Sindh University and Master’s in Civil Engineering from Mehran University. Member of Pakistan Engineering Council,  Institution of Engineers Pakistan, Permanent Finance Committee of International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage (ICID) and Pakistan Engineering Congress.

Joined WAPDA in 1974 as junior engineer (Civil) and retired as Chairman WAPDA in April 2014 with 40 years diverse experience in Management, Construction and O&M of Irrigation, Drainage, Reservoirs and Hydropower works along with Environmental safeguard of Projects.

Represented Pakistan on National Committee on Irrigation & Drainage in Moscow, China, Malaysia & USA.  Attended Global Water Partnership meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Presented paper on “Overview of Challenges and Strategies of Water Resources Management in Pakistan” under UNESCO in Tehran, Iran.

Attended South Asia Regional Workshop on Transparency and Integrity in the Water Sector, Dhaka, Bangladesh.  Attended International Expo: Zaragoza, Spain. Attended 4th  Abu Dhabi Dialogue on Water Cooperation in South Asia, Abu Dhabi. Visited China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research to encourage comprehensive collaboration in the area of Water Resources and Hydropower Technology and to promote Pak-China friendship – China. Visited Germany to have technical discussion between M/s. Lahmeyer  International Hydropower and Water Resources Division. Visited India as a part of Pakistani delegation led by Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Water. Attended 1st Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the World Bank Region – Singapore. Attended 105th meeting of Permanent Indus Commission – New Delhi, India.

Visited Bangkok, Thailand to attend Implementation Supervision Mission for WCAP.

Attended Workshop of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue Knowledge Forum – Kathmandu, Nepal.  Attended 2nd Machine (TBM) at Singapore from 23.5.2011 to 27.5.2011. Visit of Hydraulic Lab. And Cambridge office of M/s. Mott MacDonald at Wallingford – UK from 11.6.2011 to 14.6.2011. Visited Turkey regarding meeting with M/s. Limak, DSI & ENKA from 15.6.2011 to 17.6.2011. Visited Kathmandu, Nepal to participate in the 17th Regional Council, 5th General Assembly of GWP-SAS and Roundtable Dialogue on Hydropower Development from 28.11.2011 to 01.12.2011. Visited New Delhi, India to attend Secretary Level Talks on Wullar Barrage from 26.3.2012 to 28.3.2012. Visited Kyoto, Japan to attend 80th 09.6.2012. Visited France and Italy to discuss about Hydropower Projects in Pakistan from 28.6.2012 to 05.7.2012.  Abu Dhabi Knowledge Forum being organized by International  Asian Clean Energy Forum 2010 – Manila, Philippines.

4. Dr. Ali Tauqeer Sheikh– Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

Ali Tauqeer Sheikh is the founding CEO & National Program Director of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Pakistan (www.lead.org.pk) . LEAD is a non-for-profit, non-partisan organization that specializes in sustainable development. It is a premier national institution and

think tank that is deeply engaged in generating public policy options through research, capacity-building and public policy debates and dialogues. He manages the largest network of professionals on sustainable development in the country that prides itself on several hundred people and institutions as members. These members are drawn from academia, business and industry, media, think tanks and civil society organizations, and the government. They undertake individual or collaborative practical initiatives to promote economically sound, environmentally responsible and socially equitable change. He also heads Climate Leaders Action Network [CLAN] which gives him access to over 2,000 experts in the field.

Mr. Sheikh is also the Asia Director for Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). Led by Pricewaterhouse, CDKN (www.cdkn.org) is a global alliance of five organizations ODI, Intrack, Futurolatinamerico, South South North, and LEAD. In this capacity he leads efforts to assist developing country governments in the Asian region to mainstream climate compatible development in their policies and plans, strengthen their capacity to cope with climate induced disasters and extreme events, enhance their readiness to access international climate finance and to meaningfully engage in international climate negotiations for an equitable and ambitious global agreement.

Mr. Sheikh has vast experience in training and facilitating multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary expert groups on policy planning, leadership development and consensus building. In the context of Climate Change, he is involved in several regional and international dialogues and consultations to bring concerns relevant to Asia at the forefront. His work involves engagement with multiple stakeholders, from government and private sector, to academia, media, think tanks and civil society from several Asian, African and North American countries. He has served on several boards and is a member of national commissions and committees including the apex environmental body in the country, Pakistan Environment Protection Council (PEPC) chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Taskforce on Climate Change set up by the Planning Commission of Pakistan, and the Core Group constituted by the Ministry of Climate Change charged to advise the Government of Pakistan on climate negotiations.

Mr. Sheikh has represented Pakistan in several negotiating rounds since the 2001 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Presently, he is involved in helping design and plan the Climate Change Roadmap for the Government of Pakistan, and the Work Programme on Climate Change Migration as well as the Loss and Damage Program for the Government of Bangladesh. He is also currently serving on the Steering Committee of the Asia Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) Partnership that works in concert with the Global LEDS Partnership.

Mr Sheikh has studied at Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, Australian National University, Canberra, and University of Miami, Florida, from where he obtained Master’s degrees in International Relations and Strategic Studies. Mr Sheikh has been a Fellow at the Institute of Soviet and East European Studies (ISEES) Miami; the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, and the Rockefeller Foundation in New York. He has delivered lectures at a number of universities and institutions including Oxford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University), the Carnegie Endowment, the Kennan Institute of Advanced Russian Studies and the University of Michigan.

Mr. Sheikh is deeply involved in various facets of sustainable development, particularly in poverty-environment nexus, climate vulnerabilities and equitable development. He has served as advisor/consultant to a number of national/international organizations such as Asian Development Bank, European Commission, IDRC, IFAD, JICA, Packard Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, The Asia Foundation, UNDP, UNESCO and the USAID.

5. Dr. Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry – Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

Dr. Chaudhry is a climate scientist by profession and since 2003 associated with the UN-World Meteorological Organization, first as a Member of Executive Council and then Vice President from the Asia Region. He also served as Secretary, UN-ESCAP/WMO Intergovernmental Panel on Tropical Cyclones 2003-2012. He has been involved in some of the most important international scientific reports and initiatives, including most recently as an expert reviewer of IPCC’s SREX and AR5 reports, the World Bank’s ‘turn down the heat’ report. 

Recently UN-WMO Secretary General has appointed him his Special Advisor on DRR and Climate Services for AsiaHe has contributed more than 60 research papers in national and international journals, and presented at major international conferences and forums.

He is also the recipient of Pakistan’s National Civil Awards of Sitara-e-Imtiaz (2011) and Pride of Performance (1999) and also received the SAARC Best Young Climate Scientist Research Award (1993).

6. Mr. Rabel Z Akhund – Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

7. Mr. Khalid Majid FCA – Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

8. Dr. Ghulam Rasul – Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

Retired EXCOM Members: 

1. Dr. Arshad M Khan – Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

Dr. Arshad Muhammad Khan is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the fields of Energy and Environment System Planning; Nuclear Power Planning; Climate Change Projections, Impact Assessments, and Formulation of Adaptation and mitigation Strategies at the national, regional and global levels. His basic education has been in Physics in which he obtained Master’s degree from Karachi University in 1959 and Doctorate degree from Birmingham University, UK in 1964. With a gold medal studded meritorious academic record, he joined Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in 1960 and served the organization until 1998, holding important positions such as Research Group Leader, Divisional Head, Director, and Chief Scientist. In 1996 he was invited by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to serve in a senior capacity, which he did until 2001 as Senior Nuclear Power Planner/ Energy Economist. During the course of this assignment, besides his other responsibilities, he was also deeply involved in comparative assessment of the role of Nuclear Power and other electricity generation options for Mitigation of global climate change phenomenon.

Following his retirement from PAEC and IAEA, Dr. Khan was given in 2002 the challenging assignment to set up and develop a new scientific activity, called “Global Change Impact Studies Centre” (GCISC), that would use advanced simulation modeling techniques to assess the likely climatic changes over Pakistan in the coming decades, their possible impacts on key socio-economic sectors (e.g. Water Security and Food Security) and appropriate measures to counter the negative impacts. GCISC has since developed into a viable institution and has won acclaim for its research and capacity building activities, both, at national and international levels. In March 2013, it was granted through an Act of the Parliament the status of an autonomous body to serve as research arm of the Ministry of Climate Change.

Dr. Arshad Khan has a number of outstanding accomplishments and honours to his credit. These include, inter alia, most accurate experimental tests of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, as of 1960s; laying foundation of Research Reactor based scientific research in Pakistan during 1970s; major role in the authoritative global energy study with 50-years time horizon (1980-2030): “Energy in a Finite World”, conducted by an international team of energy experts during late 1970s; establishment, during 1980s, of now internationally recognized Applied Systems Analysis Division in PAEC for long term energy, electricity and nuclear power planning; pioneering work during 1990s on development of “Indicators of Sustainable Energy Development” (ISED), now in wide international use; capacity building of GCISC and other relevant organizations in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal for Climate Change research; serving as Member/Secretary to Planning Commission’s Task Force on Climate Change (TFCC) set up in 2008 (the Final Report of TFCC was released in February 2010) and as Member of the Steering Committee (2010-12) for preparation of Pakistan’s National Climate Change Policy and drafting the corresponding Action Plan.

Dr. Arshad Khan was awarded Gold Medal in 1986 by Pakistan Academy of Sciences for his outstanding work in the field of Energy, and in 1992 he was elected a Fellow by the Academy. In 1998 he was given Merit Award for Outstanding Performance by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He has organized and directed several Workshops at International level, and is the author / coauthor of over 150 research papers and publications in the fields of Nuclear Physics; Energy, Nuclear Power and Environment; Assessment of Climate Change and its Impacts on Water Resources and Agricultural Production etc. He has also edited 7 Books.

2. Ghazzanfar Ali – Member Excom, Water Environment Forum, Pakistan

Mr. Ghazzanfar Ali currently is Head of Water Resources and Glaciology section at Global Change Impact Studies Center, national Centre for Physics Complex, Islamabad.

Mr. Ghazanfar Ali has had more than 45 years long active scientific career in the field of Snow & Ice Hydrology and Water Resources of Pakistan. He joined WAPDA in 1968 after obtaining Master’s degree from Punjab University and later on, in 1989 he obtained MS qualification from Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada in Geography with major in Snow and Ice Hydrology. He also participated in numerous advanced training courses on Hydrology, and Application of Remote Sensing and GIS techniques in hydrology held at National and International institutions.

During his association with WAPDA, he remained involved in studies pertaining to spatial and temporal variation in snow and ice accumulation and melting patterns in Karakoram Mountains feeding the rivers’ of the Indus Basin, geomorphology of glaciers, movement and mass balance of some large valley glaciers etc. He also remained involve in reconnaissance, design and installation of high altitude climate Data Collection Platforms (DCP) in Upper Indus Basin, Northern, Pakistan carried out by WAPDA in collaboration with British Columbia Hydro International (BCHI) Vancouver, Canada for collection of hydro-meteorological data at nearly real time basis; development of flow forecasting system for the issuance of seasonal and 10-day flow forecasts for Indus, Jhelum, and Kabul rivers using semi-distributed ‘University of British Colombia (UBC) watershed model’. During his stay with WAPDA, he also delivered lectures on Snow & Ice Hydrology in WAPDA Academy, Faisalabad and participated in various national and international activities as an expert hydrologist.

Following his retirement from WAPDA, Ghazanfar Ali joined Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC) in 2006 as Head Water Resources and Glaciology Section. There, along with a team of young scientists he is involved in studying the impacts of climate change on water resources of Pakistan. The research focuses on analyzing historical hydro-meteorological data, monitoring changes in snow and glaciers extent using advanced RS/ GIS tools & techniques, and assessing future water availability in the rivers’ of Indus Basin, in line with the IPCC Global Climate Scenarios, by coupling the output of climate models with  ‘Distributed/ Semi-Distributed’ hydrological models. His team is developing knowledge based development strategies to advise national planners on appropriate adaptation measures, and also assisting in national capacity building and raising of public awareness in climate change related issues.

Ghazanfar Ali has contributed to a number of National and International studies, projects and reports e.g. IPCC AR 4 and AR5 WG II reports. He has contributed as an expert to the Planning Commission’s Task Force on Climate Change and has been associated with the formulation of National Climate Change Policy, and Draft framework for Pakistan Climate Change Action Plan. He also participated in many national and international conferences / workshops mostly in the capacity of resource person.