Ferrial Adam
Women in the Environment and Sustainability
Nominee's Province:
Gauteng
Project Name/Description:
Climate Justice: Water and Energy
Ferrial Adam is an environmental justice activist and researcher who has worked on energy and water issues for more than 15 years. She is an energy and climate change campaigner, with a focus on nuclear energy. “I cannot stand any form of injustice or inequality, and therefore speaking truth to power is central to my being,” says Adam. For Adam, working for Greenpeace Africa has made real the fact that you don’t have to be huge and powerful to challenge the polluting corporations and governments, and that sometimes the more significant change can come from the less powerful. Seeing environmental injustice across the country affecting millions of people, in the form of industrial pollution of our air, water and land, is a key motivation to her being involved in the sector. “I wanted to see corporations being held accountable for the damage they cause to the environment and to people,” she concludes. Adam is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Johannesburg focusing on activist science and environmental justice.
