Azra Tanović

Azra is a PlanAdapt Fellow, presently based between New York City, USA and Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Azra is a multi-disciplinary sustainability professional, researcher, and independent consultant. Since completing her Master’s degree, Azra has worked as a consultant with numerous NGOs/ IGOs on various international climate change adaptation and water security projects, with a particular focus on the Western Balkans, Equatorial Africa and Latin America. In the past, Azra’s worked on a number of European Union (EU) and European Investment Bank (EIB) funded sustainable development projects, with a particular focus on resilient hydrological systems and sustainable water and wastewater infrastructures.

As an independent consultant, Azra has also worked on a number of projects throughout the Western Balkan region, with a particular focus on Bosnia-Herzegovina. Previously, she’s supported the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) on a research and water conservation campaign to save the last “wild rivers” of Europe (in the Western Balkans). Her work in a post-war, partitioned state has made her particularly well-versed in stakeholder engagement in complex situations that require delicate, nuanced approaches to framing decision contexts for equitable stakeholder engagement. More recently, Azra has worked on a number of water security and sanitation initiatives, with a particular focus on cities in the Global South, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Furthermore, she was a project and research manager for a globally-renowned external client, wherein she managed a team of globally-based researchers developing a first-of-its-kind urban water optimization index. In addition to this, Azra has led strategy development to create a ‘water security hub’ in Equatorial Africa, focusing particularly on water access and equity in war-torn areas, such as South Sudan, and co-designing feasible pilot projects with local stakeholders and government actors.

Azra integrates both quantitative and qualitative analyses into the scope of her work, and is committed to using a culturally-sensitive approach when developing and delivering impactful climate services. As a student of past conflicts and the child of Bosnian refugees, Azra is particularly interested in the nexus of climate change, global conflict, and displacement, and understanding how climate change will impact global (in)security in the coming decades, although she is also interested in climate security, resilience, and justice in a broader sense; she hopes to further explore these research interests during her doctoral studies. Her interest and expertise lies in framing decision contexts and complex stakeholder engagement, bridging theory and practice in environmental and climate change-related projects, and designing and delivering impactful climate services. She is particularly experienced in projects pertaining to integrated water resource management, water supply and wastewater infrastructures, and sustainable development projects in post-conflict countries. Azra’s passion for social and environmental justice, as well as her dedication to developing and implementing fair and equitable climate solutions for all, has been a driving force throughout her career. Presently, Azra is involved in a number of projects, including leading the social impact startup for sustainable urban agriculture Rootically (which she co-founded), and working on the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) to measure dimensions of climate justice and equity.

Azra holds a MSc. Degree in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tufts University (Boston, MA, USA) as well as two BAs (in Psychology and Spanish Language & Literature) from the University of Miami (Miami, FL, USA), and is presently enrolled in a PhD program in Public and Urban Policy at The New School (New York, NY, USA).

For more information, see Azra’s LinkedIn page.