Kaveh Madani is a scientist, activist, and former Iranian politician. He previously served as the Deputy Head of Iran's Department of Environment. He also served as the Vice President of the United Nations Environmental Assembly Bureau from 2017 to 2018. He is known for his work on integrating game theory and decision analysis into water resources management models. His research and outreach activities have influenced water policy in Iran. He also has played a major role in raising public awareness about Iran’s water and environmental problems in recent years. Known as "Iran’s expat eco-warrior", he was considered as the "Symbol of Expatriate Return" to Iran during President Rouhani's administration.
Kaveh Madani is a Henry Hart Rice Senior Fellow at Yale University and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. He was an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida before joining Imperial College in 2013. In 2017, his name appeared in the media, including Shargh, as one of the candidates with strong support from the Iranian environmental NGOs and activists to become Iran's Minister of Energy after Hamid Chitchian in Hassan Rouhani's second presidency term. Madani denied this news later in an interview with the Mehr News Agency. He was appointed by Issa Kalantari as the Deputy for International Affairs, Innovation and Socio-cultural Engagement of Iran's Department of Environment in 2017. From 2017 to 2018, he served as the Deputy Vice President of Iran in his position as the Deputy Head of Iran's Department of Environment and the Chief of Iran's Department of Environment's International Affairs and Conventions Center. He was interrogated many times during his tenure in Iran and was arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in February 2018. In April 2018, he resigned from his political post and revealed that he was kept under surveillance by the Iranian intelligence services and hardliners since his return to Iran. In Iran, he served as the Chair of the National Committee on International Climate Change Negotiations, Vice President of the National Committee of Sustainable Development, Member of the Supreme Council of Iran's House of Farmers, Member of Iran's Supreme Water Council, and Member of the Iran-Afghanistan Negotiations Workgroup on Water. He led Iran's delegation in the 23rd United Nations Climate Change Conference and the 3rd Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly. He has received several awards for his research contributions, teaching innovations, and humanitarian activities such as the "New Faces of Civil Engineering" by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists by the European Geosciences Union , the Walter L. Huber prize by ASCE, and the Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award from the American Geophysical Union .
Campaigns on Waste and Plastic
By running a national campaign on waste, he tried to raise public awareness about waste and plastic pollution in Iran. He was the initiator of the popular Bi-Zobaleh challenge, a social game that reminded both citizens and decision makers about their responsibilities on waste using the “Let’s Start with Ourselves” slogan. Bi-Zobaleh turned into a viral social media game in Iran with many celebrities, top politicians, influential figures, activists and the public from all walks of life joining the challenge from different parts of the country, sharing their solutions and actions on waste reduction in the environment. The move created national sensitivity to the waste issue, which subsequently encouraged many public waste collection events around the country followed by plastic bottled water bans in some city councils, including major cities like Tabriz, Rasht and Isfahan. Among the Iranian public figures and celebrities who attended the Bi-Zobaleh Challenge are Mitra Hajjar, Pejman Jamshidi, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Shahindokht Molaverdi, Reza Sadeghi, Mohammad Rezs Aref, Mohammad Bathaei, Issa Kalantari, Reza Yazdani, Tayebeh Siavoshi, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, Pantea Bahram, and Roya Nonahali.
