Kamal is currently the Climate Envoy of the President of the UN General Assembly, overseeing the President’s efforts on addressing the existential threats posed by sea-level rise and on enabling people-positive adaptation journeys amidst the climate crisis.
Kamal also leads the Global Centre for Climate Mobility, advancing various regional climate mobility initiatives enabled by the UN, the World Bank, and respective regional organisations, including in Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, and the Pacific.
In this regard, he spearheads the Rising Nations Initiative, a UN Member States-led initiative focused on protecting the statehood, sovereignty & heritage of Pacific atoll island countries facing existential threat from rising sea levels.
Kamal is Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Columbia University since 2018, where he co-chairs the University’s network on Climate Mobility.
Between 2004 and 2020, Kamal held various high-level assignments in the United Nations, serving as Political Director to several Presidents of the UN General Assembly and in senior positions at UN Headquarters in New York, as well as in various political missions and peacekeeping operations, including in Iraq, Myanmar, Côte d’Ivoire, and Darfur. He led efforts that resulted in the adoption of the New York Declaration for Refugees & Migrants, and the Global Compact for Migration, as well as the establishment of the first UN Innovation & Technology Accelerator for Cities.
His international career began in the Office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002, after which he joined the Office of Arab League’s Secretary-General Amr Moussa in 2003, advising on Iraq issues.
Kamal served as member of the Global Board of Trustees of The Commons Project Foundation and the Board of Directors of the Tällberg Foundation between 2018 and 2023. He is a member of The Club of Rome and served on the Executive Board of Sciences Po Paris in 2002 & 2003. Kamal was appointed Yale World Fellow in 2012 and Richard von Weisacker Fellow at the Bosch Academy in 2023.
He is an Architect and a graduate of Sciences Po Paris, Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs, and the Saint-Luc School of Architecture.
