ECA Talk: How Can Cities Thrive in a Changing Climate?

Megha Mukim is a senior economist at the World Bank Group, author of several flagship reports, including, most recently ‘Thriving – Making Cities Green, Resilient and Inclusive in a Changing Climate’ and ‘Competitive Cities for Jobs and Growth’.

She is a Visiting Professor at the School of Economics and Finance at Wits University, South Africa. She has taught topics in development at the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC, and at Columbia University in New York. She has a PhD from the London School of Economics and her graduate degrees are from the universities of London and Cambridge. 

Mark Roberts is a Lead Urban Economist with the Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice of the World Bank, as well as the Bank’s Global Co-Lead for Spatial and Territorial Development. He is a lead author of the Bank’s recently launched Sustainable Development Flagship report, Thriving: Making Cities Green, Resilient and Inclusive in a Changing Climate, as well as of regional Flagship reports on urbanization for both South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Mark has also worked on the East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa regions, and acts as an advisor to Work Bank teams working on the analysis of processes of urban and spatial development.

Nasiha Pozder serves as Minister of Environment and Tourism of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her ministerial portfolio includes sustainable tourism development, environmental permitting and conservation, oversight of protected areas and the Environment Fund, and promoting tourism growth, jobs and investments.

Dr. Pozder holds a Doctorate in Architecture and Urbanism and a Master Architectural Engineering from the University of Sarajevo. She assumed her position in May 2023 after serving for four years as a Member of the Parliament in the Federation House of Representatives where she held various committee roles, including Physical Planning, Housing and Communal Policy, Ecology and Tourism, Science, Culture and Sport.

Prior to joining government, she served as professor of architecture in the country’s leading University of Sarajevo. Earlier, she contributed to various design and regeneration initiatives as advisor or leader of different private sector and local government projects. She also served as technical advisor to international organizations such as the World Bank, UNDP and the German Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung.

Somik Lall is Staff Director of the World Bank’s 2024 World Development Report, which examines the challenges of economic growth in middle-income countries. He is also an Economic Adviser in the Office of the World Bank Group Chief Economist. Previously, he headed the climate economics and policy team in the World Bank’s Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions vice presidency, where he developed and supervised high-quality research programs on resilience and economic development, the macro-criticality of climate change, and innovations for the low-carbon transition. His other roles include Global Lead for territorial and spatial development and Lead Economist for the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk, Resilience, and Land Global Practice. Dr. Lall also teaches at Johns Hopkins University and has been a Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.