Statement: “Climate related risk is now an operational reality for organizations working in exposed and fragile environments. Sound leadership treats it like any other material risk: plan for it, reduce exposure, and protect the continuity of operations and the people who depend on them.” Ali Al Mokdad
Strategic Perspective: Ali Al Mokdad approaches climate and environmental factors as a matter of operational risk management and resilience. Climate is a growing driver of displacement, food insecurity, and disruption, and the communities most exposed are often those already in crisis. Climate-related events, from floods and droughts to extreme heat, also strain supply chains, damage assets, and raise the cost of operations. He treats these as planning variables that responsible leaders account for, alongside security, financial, and compliance risk.
His focus is practical, and centers on three things. First, building disaster risk reduction and anticipatory action into programme design, so resources move ahead of predictable shocks rather than after the damage is done. Second, strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacity of affected communities, so response also reduces future exposure. Third, managing the environmental footprint of operations through more efficient logistics, energy, and procurement, in line with recognized humanitarian standards such as Sphere and the Core Humanitarian Standard.
This perspective is grounded in evidence and operational discipline rather than ideology. The aim is straightforward: keep programmes running through disruption, use donor resources responsibly, and leave the communities and systems an organization works in better able to cope with future shocks.
Future Vision: Ali sees resilience and operational efficiency becoming a standard part of how serious organizations plan, budget, and report. Leaders who account for climate-related risk early protect their people, their assets, and the continuity of their mission, while those who ignore it absorb higher costs and sharper disruptions later. He expects practical measures, more efficient logistics, smarter use of energy and resources, and programme designs that hold up under stress, to become ordinary markers of well-run operations rather than special initiatives.