Forward Talks features sustainability leaders and climate champions driving impact from our region to the world.
Forward Talks is hosted by Tatiana Antonelli-Abella and brought to you by Goumbook, the UAE’s first social enterprise, in partnership with Mastercard. A special thanks to the Dubai Government Media Office for their support.
Forward Talks
Episodes Page 1 of 5

MENAT Regenerative Agriculture Winners 2024-25
Tatiana Antonelli-Abella sits down with the winners of the 2024-25 cohort of the MENAT Regenerative Agriculture Initiative. Now in its second year, the Venture Programme received 660 registration and 190

Polar regions sentinels of climate change, biodiversity, and human resilience, with Wassim Said
Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Wassim Said for a special episode of Forward Talks to mark the inaugural World Day for Glaciers and 2025 being the International Year of Glaciers’

FAO’s Role in Combating Desertification: Insights with Feras Ziadat
Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Feras Ziadat, who is currently a Land and Water Officer with a specific focus on land resource management and planning at the United Nations Food

Financing the Future: Driving Sustainability and Regenerative Growth in KSA, with Ali Tariq Khan
Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Ali Tariq Khan, Senior Advisor for ESG Matters at Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB), a leading corporate, institutional and trade finance bank in Saudi Arabia with

Land Restoration: Regenerative Solutions for Arid Lands, with Neal Spackman
Tatiana Antonelli-Abella is joined by Neal Spackman to discuss the Al Baydah Restoration Project in Saudi Arabia, a groundbreaking project he led in partnership with the King Faisal Foundation, starting

Water Bankruptcy: Rethinking Drought, Soil, and Sustainability, with Professor Kaveh Madani
Welcome to Our Land, Our Future, a special mini-series of Forward Talks by Goumbook focused on land restoration and combating desertification. 🧡This special series is brought to you in partnership

Panel discussion: Nature & Science based solutions- scaling Regenerative Agriculture to tackle the MENAT agricultural, food security & climate change challenges
The first MENAT Regenerative Agriculture Venture Program Ceremony took place on the 22nd of May, the International Day of Biological Diversity, where we celebrated the researches and entrepreneurs who hold

How purpose unlocks the health of people, vulnerable communities, and the planet, with Telfast’s Sylvain Bonnet
Tatiana sits down with Sylvain Bonnet, Vice President & Global General Manager for Telfast, a brand under global healthcare company, Sanofi. Sanofi and Telfast have been instrumental towards Goumbook’s

Tanzeed Alam on COP28 & the UAE consensus: from agreement to action
We’re joined today by Tanzeed Alam, MD at Earth Matters, to talk about the outcomes of COP28 in the UAE, and look ahead to COP29 in Azerbaijan. Tanzeed is

Think Tank: The Invisible Challenge: Exploring the nexus of indoor air quality, public health and climate action
Our latest Think Tank took place on day 13 of COP28 at the Slovenia Pavilion under the Take a Breath campaign, in partnership with Telfast and Sanofi. The goal of

Obaid Ali Alshamshi & Shaemma Rasheed Mebwana on youth empowerment to advance inclusive and ambitious climate action
We’re joined for this youth-focused episode by Obaid Ali Alshamshi, a distinguished Emirati biologist, currently leading the Marine Biodiversity Section and the Youth Council at the UAE Ministry of

Jamila El Mir on accelerating net zero transition in the built environment
We’re joined today by Jamila El Mir, senior advisor to the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak. Forward Talks: Jamila El Mir 0:

Florence Bulte on building a strong sustainability culture in luxury retail
We’re joined today by Florence Bulte, Chief Sustainability Officer at Chalhoub Group. Chalhoub Group has been a creator of luxury experiences across the Middle East for over six decades,

The Green Sheikh on fostering the youth as future climate champions
H.H Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Nuaimi, popularly known as The Green Sheikh, joins us on the episode. Sheikh Abdul Aziz serves as environmental advisor to the Ajman Government and

Andrea Prazakova on the intersection of fintech and climate action
We’re joined on the episode by Andrea Prazakova, Senior Vice President at Mastercard Foundry and ESG for EEMEA. She’s also the co-founder of Space Uncensored, a podcast that