Malak Altaeb (Libya)

Malak Altaeb (Libya)

(Independent Consultant in Climate Change 

& Environmental Policy | Researcher 

| 2025 Wilson Center Agents of Change Youth Fellow)

When people think about securing water, they often picture dams, pipelines, treatment plants and boreholes. Yet long before infrastructure is built, critical decisions must be made about how water is governed, protected and shared in an increasingly uncertain climate. It is in this space that Malak Altaeb is helping shape Africa's water future.

A Libyan environmental policy researcher and independent consultant, Malak has dedicated her career to understanding the complex relationship between water security, climate change, environmental governance and sustainable development across North Africa and the wider Middle East. Her work reflects a growing recognition that Africa's water future depends not only on engineering solutions, but equally on sound environmental policy, climate resilience and evidence-based decision-making.

After earning a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tripoli, Malak pursued a Master's degree in Environmental Policy at Sciences Po in Paris. Over the past six years, she has built an interdisciplinary career spanning policy analysis, research and project management, working with think tanks, research institutions and private sector organisations on some of the region's most pressing environmental challenges.

Today, based in Paris, France, she works as an independent consultant specialising in climate change and environmental policy, with particular expertise in water and food security, climate security, environmental governance and strategic policy analysis across Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and the Gulf region. Her work increasingly explores emerging challenges at the intersection of water, technology, investment and environmental security, while also mentoring the next generation of climate and water professionals through the inaugural Climate and Water Initiative (CWI) Mentorship Programme. She also examines how misinformation and information manipulation can influence climate policy and environmental decision-making, recognising that resilient institutions depend not only on sound science but also on trusted information.

Malak's research consistently demonstrates that water cannot be addressed in isolation. It is intrinsically linked to food security, energy systems, environmental protection, economic stability and peace. Through her work on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus, groundwater governance, climate resilience and sustainable resource management, she has contributed to a broader understanding of how integrated policy approaches can help countries respond to increasing water stress in a changing climate.

Her expertise has been recognised internationally through collaborations with leading organisations including the Middle East Institute, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Arab Reform Initiative and other policy institutions working to strengthen environmental governance and climate resilience. In 2025, she was selected as a Wilson Center Agents of Change Youth Fellow, recognising emerging leaders whose work is advancing solutions at the intersection of climate change, water and security.

Malak was also recognised in the inaugural 100 African Women Leading Africa's Water & Sanitation Future Compendium, published by the African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWASA) and the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN), honouring women whose leadership is helping shape the future of Africa's water sector through research, innovation, policy and systems strengthening.

Africa's water future will not be secured by infrastructure alone; it will also be shaped by the policies, evidence and decisions that determine how water is governed, protected and shared. Through her research, policy analysis and commitment to climate resilience, Malak Altaeb is helping ensure those decisions are grounded in evidence, informed by science and responsive to the realities of a changing world. Her work reminds us that sustainable water security begins not only with engineering solutions, but with the ideas, policies and partnerships that make those solutions possible.

Africa's Women's Day Awareness 2026 proudly celebrate Malak Altaeb for her contribution to advancing climate-informed environmental policy, strengthening water governance and demonstrating how research and evidence can help secure Africa's water future for generations to come.

Sources: LinkedIn Profile (accessed July 2026); Wilson Center (2025); Middle East Institute; 100 African Women Leading Africa's Water & Sanitation Future (AfWASA/RWSN, 2026).