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Amali Tower          

Founder & Executive Director of Climate Refugees; Member, Expert Network at World Economic Forum; Humanitarian & Human Rights Refugee Advocate

Amali Tower is a globally recognized expert in refugee protection, refugee resettlement, and forced migration, with extensive experience working in complex displacement contexts around the world. Over the years, she has worked with numerous NGOs, the UN Refugee Agency, and the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Her career has been shaped by years of interviewing refugees fleeing conflict, giving her firsthand insight into the growing intersection of forced migration and climate change. This experience led her to create "Climate Refugees," an organization dedicated to addressing the unique challenges of those displaced by environmental factors. Tower’s work includes conducting country and regional case studies on climate-induced displacement, with research spanning both urban and camp settings. Her impactful work on climate, conflict, and displacement in the Lake Chad Basin was presented at COP 26 in Glasgow as evidence of loss and damage.

Tower is a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network in Migration, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Response, and she is active in the UC Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law's working group on climate refugees and immigrant justice. Additionally, she sits on the advisory board of the Center for Climate and Security in Washington, D.C. In 2023, Tower was invited to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative (CG) on "Forced Migration and Climate Change," where she participated in a fireside chat with David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. Her work has also been featured on PBS's "Evolution Earth," where she filmed on location in Morocco to explore desertification and displacement.

Throughout her career, Tower has been called upon to provide expertise in high-profile contexts such as the Afghan evacuations and Syrian resettlement to the United States. She is frequently consulted on rapid deployments, humanitarian operations, human rights, public policy, and advocacy. Her work is deeply informed by her personal experience of instability, having lived as an immigrant and migrant in multiple countries. Tower’s commitment to forcibly displaced populations is grounded in her lived experiences, and she holds a Master of International Affairs in Human Rights from Columbia University and a BA in International Development Studies from UCLA. She currently resides in New York City.

Speech Topics


International and Humanitarian Affairs

  • Peace & Security
  • UN Affairs

Environmental Justice

  • Environmental Racism
  • Human Rights
  • Climate Justice

Refugee Protection and Resettlement

  • Border Policy
  • Asylum
  • Human Security
  • Immigration

Climate Migration and Displacement

  • Climate Change
  • Forced Displacement

News


Q&A: Amali Tower on Climate Migration and 'Evolution Earth'
Amali Tower, founder of Climate Refugees, a non-profit organization dedicated to tackling the worsening climate refugee crisis through their research and advocacy.
Watch Amali Tower on PBS new Climate Change Series, "Evolution Earth"
Travel to the hottest and driest extremes to see animals go to extraordinary lengths to survive. From the Sahara Desert to Australia, animals provide new clues about our changing planet and what it will mean for the future of our heating world.
Climate exodus: The unfolding crisis of climate displacement
Around the world, climate change-induced extreme weather events and environmental changes are driving more and more people to flee their homes. However climate refugees remain invisible in international frameworks that protect other displaced people.
Clinton Global Initiative: Fireside Chat with Amali Tower
Forced migration and climate change: how we can empower communities to cope with climate-induced displacement.
Migrant workers toil in perilous heat to prepare for Cop28 climate talks in UAE
“The story of migrant workers in the Gulf region is a story of climate injustice,” said Amali Tower, executive director of the non-profit Climate Refugees.
Amali Tower: What Climate Justice Takes
“Crisis isn’t triggered the minute somebody crosses a border; it’s triggered because it’s happening to them right now.”
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Fighting for the Climate Diaspora
Amali Tower MIA ’09 is building expertise on how the greatest threat to human existence is already uprooting human lives.
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