Adnan Awad – Management Committee
Dr. Adnan Awad was the Director of IOI-Southern Africa from 2007 – 2020. He continues to serve on the Management Committee in addition to his new role as Director of the African Oceans Strategy for TNC. He earned two undergraduate degrees at the University of Washington and his Master’s and PhD at the University of Cape Town, where he has focused on marine ecological issues associated with invasive species. Before joining the IOI, he worked for the Global Invasive Species Programme, as well as the International Maritime Organization for 5 years on a programme addressing ballast water management. He continues to collaborate with the IMO on training, policy and technical capacity development issues.
Over recent years Adnan has been working with regional partners (e.g. UNEP-RS, UNDP/GEF) to address key ocean governance concerns around Africa. His focus on developing partnership-based approaches is helping support the environmental and humanitarian aspects of the AU 2050 AIM Strategy. The resulting expansion of Blue or Ocean Economy initiatives at national and regional levels is providing the foundation, and also the demand for increased NGO and marine conservation effort to ensure that the principles of sustainability are adequately integrated across sectors.