Dalberg Catalyst

Stay tuned! 👇

We are thrilled that parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), who met earlier this month in Cali, approved a Global Action Plan on Biodiversity and Health to help curb the emergence of zoonotic diseases and promote sustainable ecosystems. Taking a holistic “One Health” approach, the plan recognizes the interconnectedness of ecosystems, animals, and humans. Through Preventing Pandemics at the Source (PPATS), visionary representatives from health and conservation have been collaborating over the last 4 years to ensure awareness of, and action on, viral spillover. The spillover of viruses from animals to humans  –  driven by deforestation, commercial wildlife trade, and livestock production without adequate safeguards – has been the cause of most, if not all, viral pandemics since 1918. PPATS co-hosts the Commission on Prevention of Viral Spillover alongside renowned medical journal The Lancet. Co-chaired by Neil Vora, MD, Raina Plowright, and Latiffah Hassan, the Commission brings together 27 leading scientists from around the world. The aim is to mobilize transdisciplinary action to limit viral spillovers through research, policy, law, and practice — thereby reducing the risk of future pandemics while promoting a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable future. Dalberg Catalyst is honored to be co-creator and steward of PPATS.  For more on this important topic, check out PPATS Executive Director Neil Vora’s TED talk on pandemic prevention. Jordan Fabyanske, Robyn van den Heuvel, Charlotte Baylis, Nigel Sizer

"Leadership is about the capacity of the whole system to sense and actualize the future that wants to emerge." (Otto Scharmer)   The Adaptive Cities team is gearing up for return to Santiago, Chile, next week, where we are excited to advance our collaborations with Chilean partners working at the nexus of extreme heat, freshwater challenges and their implications for health and social justice.   Our pilot-scale efforts in Santiago are part of the global Adaptive Cities initiative, which we are honored to co-create and steward. The origins of Adaptive Cities trace back to great minds gathered at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center and our engagement in the Brookings-Rockefeller 17 Rooms process in 2023.   Adaptive Cities seeks to empower urban communities with AI-enabled, data-driven insights and collective intelligence to address tomorrow's challenges today. Fragmented data and siloed systems hinder collaborative, proactive planning, impeding the emergence of resilient, sustainable cities capable of adapting to rapid change.   At the core is the groundbreaking idea of OpenTwin -- a digital twin platform designed to help democratize and better inform urban planning and governance. More and more cities are experimenting with digital twin technology, and we see a tremendous opportunity for digital twins to serve as intelligent public infrastructure and to interlink these digital twins through a global network for shared learning and collaboration.   If collective sensemaking is what leadership is about, then Adaptive Cities is building deep leadership capacity – by enabling urban communities to jointly make sense of the challenges ahead and shape locally-led and essential adaptation investments to address them. To learn more, visit www.adaptivecities.org, or email adaptivecities @ dalbergcatalyst .org .   Robert Kirkpatrick, Harvey Rubin, PhD, MD, Laura Lee, Saleem H. Ali, Nicolas Azocar 宁友, Kari Aina Eik, William Hoffman, San Rahi, Evelyn Garrido, Robert Fabricant, Cristina Huidobro, Patricia Andrea Pastén Valdés, Roberto Moris

A huge thank you to beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship for inviting us to co-host the launch of your North America Fellowship during #ClimateWeekNYC! It was truly inspiring to witness the incredible innovations emerging from this impactful program. We were also energized by the opportunity to connect with over 200 representatives from business, government, and the social impact sectors who joined us for the event. As we confront the urgent environmental challenges ahead, collaboration across sectors is more critical than ever. It’s through initiatives with ambitions like this—anchored in holistic systems, with stable funding and shared accountability—that we can drive meaningful, lasting change. We are excited to see how these bold solutions evolve in the coming years and remain committed to working together for a sustainable future. Many thanks to The DO School Fellowships, Leaders' Quest, Count Us In, The Forum of Young Global Leaders, Global Shapers Community, The Rockefeller Foundation, Village Capital, World Economic Forum, and beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship.

✨ Dalberg Catalyst is thrilled to announce we are co-hosting a special New York Climate Week event focused on environmental innovation and leadership, with beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship and The DO School Fellowships. Other co-hosts include: The Rockefeller Foundation, Leaders' Quest, Count Us In, Village Capital, The Forum of Young Global Leaders, Global Shapers Community, and 1t.org. The event will include: 🎤 Panel discussions around seeding and cultivating meaningful, longer-term environmental innovation 🌱 Celebrating and engaging with young eco-innovators leading the way to a more sustainable future This event is invite-only, so please message us directly if you are interested. Please note that invites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Don’t miss the chance to join us on September 24 at Radio Park Rockefeller Center! #ClimateAction #EnvironmentalLeadership #ClimateWeekNY

Huge honor to have published this piece in The Lancet (with so many great co-authors) on the importance of nature in the growing climate and health movement. People need nature to survive--that's a fact. The way that many--if not most--people will experience the climate crisis is through its impact on their health. Protecting nature is critical if we are to meet global climate goals and save lives. Unfortunately, all too often, nature is overlooked in conversations on climate and health. We give recommendations on how the health sector can engage to increase uptake of nature-based solutions. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ec8jrPqk

In April, we met with over 20 activists and legal experts in Colombia to kick off a series of convenings to develop recommendations for the Principles on the Crime of Gender Persecution (an initiative supported by Dalberg Catalyst through grant funding from The Rockefeller Foundation), a guide for governments, humanitarian rights groups, and others to prevent gender persecution and take appropriate action when it occurs. The Principles presents an opportunity to address the discrimination that leads to gender-based violence, take the term "gender persecution" beyond courtrooms, and change the way it is approached in our day-to-day. “Naming … the crime of gender persecution is definitely an opportunity to investigate the structures of power. That’s why it’s so important." Universidad de Los Andes https://bit.ly/3zm2YJE

🌟 Unlocking Africa's Renewable Energy Potential with CAP-A's Energy Dashboard! Did you know? Our (beta) Energy Dashboard filtered areas of economic viability and geophysical feasibility to determine Africa's solar potential to be 1.3TWh and wind potential to be 1.2TWh. 💡 👉 Explore now: https://lnkd.in/dGFtezm5 #RenewableEnergy #ClimateAction #EnergyDashboard #GreenIndustrialisation

I had the huge honor of doing a TED talk earlier this year. In it, I discuss how our health as humans cannot be separated from that of the planet. We are interconnected with every other being on this planet. I specifically focus the talk on forests, which are critical for meeting our climate goals and for preventing pandemics. A better world is possible. Thank you in advance for watching! go.ted.com/neilvora

New release from JUST Capital, one of our Uncommon Collaborations grantees: The #JUSTJobsScorecard is a data-driven interactive tool to help companies prioritize investments in their most important value creators – their workers. The tool helps corporate leaders assess job quality performance on 31 data points across six key topic areas, allowing them to understand where their performance stands against minimum, common, and leading practice standards among America’s largest publicly-traded companies. It provides actionable next steps corporate leaders can take to drive long-term value and builds the case for new workforce investments. Explore it all here: https://lnkd.in/ezRVyBFk