This short film pays tribute to professor Saleemul Huq, an environmental and climate change giant who died on 28 October 2023.
Professor Saleemul Huq OBE (1952-2023)
Following the passing of Professor Saleemul Huq, senior fellow of IIED. This book of remembrance is open to all who wish to share their memories of Saleem.
Professor Saleemul Huq was an environmental and climate change giant and senior fellow and dear friend of IIED and many IIED colleagues past and present.
Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) and a senior associate of IIED, he was awarded an OBE by the Queen in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List for his services to combating international climate change.
The honour was awarded in recognition of his work to build climate expertise in Bangladesh, the UK and across the world.
Saleem was an expert on the links between climate change and sustainable development, particularly from the perspective of vulnerable developing countries. A constant voice for climate action and justice for the global South, he was the lead author of chapters in the third, fourth and fifth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Huq’s work with the IPCC spanned 1997 to 2014 and he contributed to reports that led to the panel being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
A professor at the Independent University, Bangladesh, and an advisor to the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group of the UNFCCC, Huq published hundreds of scientific as well as popular articles and was named by Nature in 2022 as one of its top 10 scientists.
He set up the climate change research group at IIED in 2000 and was its initial director – continuing as a senior fellow until 2021 – and worked across the institute to ensure climate was at the heart of all that IIED did.
IIED executive director Tom Mitchell said: “I would like to offer my deepest sympathy and condolences to Saleem’s family and loved ones on behalf of IIED. There was no one quite like Saleem and I will remember his unique combination of warmth, generosity of spirit, academic prowess and enormous standing in climate science.
“Only a few short months ago I was with Saleem in Dhaka discussing our collaborative work on loss and damage, in his role as director of ICCCAD. He leaves an incredible legacy to us all in his body of work and spirit in the fight against climate change, and we will miss him deeply. This book of remembrance will serve as reminder of that legacy.”
IIED’s senior director of strategic impact and former climate change director, Clare Shakya, added: “It’s a huge loss. Saleem made a monumental contribution to climate justice globally and particularly for the poorest countries, the least developed countries. His efforts to ensure adaptation and loss and damage are core aspects of the climate response were unparalleled.
“He was the warmest man and shared his wisdom with us all. He stood for climate justice and spoke truth to power. Saleem’s family are in our thoughts.”
A tribute to Saleemul Huq played at the COP28 event that launched a scholarship in his name
A COP stalwart and visionary
One of the few people to have attended all 27 of the United Nations climate change conferences, Huq was known for his clear communication and strong opinions. He was a key member of the COP28 Advisory Committee, and COP28 issued a statement that “the world has lost a visionary whose climate action legacy will guide and inspire generations to come”.
Sunday’s pre-COP G77 meeting and the Climate and Development Ministerial started with a minute’s silence in his memory.
He was also the founder, at COP8 in Delhi, of the successful Development and Climate Days event that takes place during COPs, and marks its 20th year in 2023.
UK Climate Change Champion Nigel Topping said he was shocked and saddened to hear of Saleem’s passing. “[He was a] friend and mentor who did more than anyone to encourage me to move beyond mitigation to work on resilience”.
Born on October 2, 1952, Huq was the son of diplomats and grew up in Europe, Asia and Africa. He moved to the UK in the 1970s to study at Imperial College London, where he obtained his doctorate in botany in 1978. He was also awarded the 2020 National Environment Award by the Bangladesh government.
In early December 2023, it was announced at COP28 that a loss and damage scholarship had been created in memory of Huq, along with a ‘Saleemul Huq Memorial Prize for Loss and Damage Research’.
For three decades, Huq was arguably the foremost champion of poorest countries in UN climate negotiationsObituary by Third Pole
Obituaries
A “titan of the climate movement who stood out in a field dominated by scientists from Europe and North America” – The Guardian
“An inspirational figure whose continued insistence that poorer countries have a say in the global struggle over climate change appeared to be finally paying off” – New York Times (subscription required)
“The developing countries have lost an incredible voice” – Time
“An expert in the fields of climate change, environment, and development” – IPCC
Saleem “always saw something in me I didn’t see in myself” – Erin Roberts, The Loss and Damage Collaboration
Saleem was “the leading voice calling for adaptation when the whole world was calling for emissions reductions” – Washington Post (subscription required)
“Saleem was an engaging and inspiring speaker, always leaving the audience with a sense that positive change is possible” – Institute of Development Studies
“A tireless advocate for change and a kind and compassionate mentor to so many” – Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
“His life was full of actions that encouraged many people like me to be climate activists” – Daily Observer, Bangladesh
“The untimely death of a masterful climate communicator” – Columbia Journalism Review
“If he was not in his [COP] “office”, colleagues said, it was because he was everywhere.” – The Economist (subscription required)
Book of remembrance
IIED has opened this page of remembrance so that colleagues and friends can share their memories of their time with Saleem. Please email james.persad@iied.org with your memories.
We send our deepest sympathies and condolences to Saleem’s family, loved ones and colleagues at ICCCAD.
CVD 