Kaveh Madani

Kaveh Madani
Kaveh Madani
Born1981 (age 44–45)
Tehran, Iran
CitizenshipIran
Alma mater
Known for
  • Fundamental contributions to integrating game theory and decision analysis into water management models
  • Environmental activism and impacting water policy in Iran
Awards
Scientific career
Institutions
ThesisClimate Change Effects on High-Elevation Hydropower System in California (2009)
Doctoral advisorJay R. Lund
Notable studentsAli Salajegheh
Website

Kaveh Madani (Persian: کاوه مدنی; born 1981) is an Iranian scientist and UN official based in New York. He was formerly an Iranian government official in the Department of Environment, which included serving as Deputy Vice President of Iran from 2017 to early 2018. As of March 2026 he is the director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), and a research professor at the City College of New York. He previously served as the deputy head of Iran's Department of Environment (also Iran's deputy vice president), but left in April 2018 after a crackdown by hardliners against environmental activists. He served as the vice president of the United Nations Environmental Assembly Bureau from 2017 to 2018, and held positions at Yale University and Imperial College London.

Madani is the author of the "Global Water Bankruptcy Report", published in January 2026, which declared that the planet had entered the "era of Global Water Bankruptcy", with many river basins and aquifers worldwide having lost their ability to restore their historical conditions, and is credited with coining the term "water bankruptcy". He has won many awards, including the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize.

Early life and education

Kaveh Madani was born in 1981 in Tehran,[1] Iran, to parents working in the water sector.[2]

He went to school in Tehran, and received his BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Tabriz in Tabriz, northwestern Iran,[3] in 2003.[4] He travelled abroad for further study, earning has an MSc in Water Resources from Lund University in Lund, Sweden;[5] and a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Davis in California, US.[6][7]

He undertook post-doctoral studies in Environmental Policy and Economics at the Water Science and Policy Center and the Department of Environmental Sciences of the University of California, Riverside.[7][8][9]

Academic career (2010–present)

From around 2010[10] Madani was assistant professor of civil, environmental, and construction engineering, and an Alex Alexander Fellow at the University of Central Florida, where he was the founding director of the Hydro-Environmental & Energy Systems Analysis (HEESA) Research Group.[11]

In 2013, he joined the Centre for Environmental Policy of Imperial College London, where he worked at Imperial College as a lecturer (assistant professor) in environmental management (2013-2015), senior lecturer (associate professor) in environmental management (2015-2016), and reader in systems analysis and policy (2016-2017).[10][6] There, he taught game theory as applied to water management problems. During his time there, he co-authored a paper in 2016 that blamed the Iranian Government for failures in water policy in adapting to climate change, causing desertification and increasing dust storms.[4]

He then returned to Iran at the invitation of the government, to serve as the Deputy Vice President of Iran and the Deputy Head of the Department of Environment.[12] He served as the Centre for Environmental Policy's Director of Alumni from 2014 to 2017. He continued to be associated with Imperial College as a visiting reader (2017-2018) in his absence.[10][6] After leaving Iran, he was officially listed as a visiting professor at the college, but actually went into hiding, with the help of old friends. From Turkiye he travelled through Europe to North America, where he spent about eight months moving between the United States and Toronto, where his wife had resided before their marriage. He made some public appearances at conferences and did interviews during this period.[4]

In January 2020, Madani was appointed visiting professor at Yale University's MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, and he spent time in Toronto in between spells at the New Haven campus. His rate of publishing slowed down,[a] partly because he was not interested in highly theoretical work, but wanted to influence policies.[4]

He joined the United Nations University as the Director of the Nexus Program at UNU-FLROES in 2021. Since 1 February 2023 and as of March 2026 he is the director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH),[14][15]

Since 2021 and as of March 2026 he is also a research professor at the City University of New York's Remote Sensing Earth Systems (CUNY-CREST) Institute at the City College of New York.[12][16]

Madani is known for his work on integrating game theory and decision analysis into water resources management models,[17] and for developing the first formal definition of the "Water Bankruptcy" concept.[18] He is the author of the "Global Water Bankruptcy Report" (published January 2026),[19] which declared that the planet had entered the "era of Global Water Bankruptcy", with many river basins and aquifers worldwide having lost their ability to restore their historical conditions.[20][21]

He has held research and teaching positions at Stockholm University, Cornell University, UC Irvine, K. N. Toosi University of Technology (Iran), and Dalian University of Technology (China), and his alma maters Lund University, UC Davis, and UC Riverside, and has also advised many graduate students and post-doctoral scholars.[11]

Political career (2017–2018)

Madani was appointed by Issa Kalantari as the Deputy for International Affairs, Innovation and Socio-cultural Engagement of Iran's Department of Environment in 2017.[22][23] When he first arrived back in Iran, he was detained and interrogated by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers for several hours about his time abroad, and they confiscated his phone and computer.[4] 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.[24][25][26]

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.[10][6] He was Iran's front environmental diplomat during his tenure in Iran. Madani led Iran's delegation at the 23rd United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany, in November 2017,[27][28][29] and the following month was the Iranian representative at the anniversary of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change in Paris, where many countries were represented by their leaders.[4] He also attended the 3rd Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-3).[30]

During this time, he was critical of the government's past water policies, in particular its building of multiple dams, and cloud seeding. Such policies benefited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) through its industrial arm.[31] He was outspoken, and criticised officials.[4]

He was interrogated many times during his tenure in Iran and was arrested by the IRGC in February 2018.[32][33][34] In April 2018, he resigned[35] from his political post and revealed that he was kept under surveillance by the Iranian intelligence services and hardliners since his return to Iran.[36][37][12]

He left Iran and went into exile in April 2018, after the government had arrested dozens of environmental activists earlier that year, and Madani was detained for 72 hours earlier that year, and his friend, Iranian-Canadian environmentalist Kavous Seyed-Emami, had died in custody.[12][31][4] Announcing his departure on Twitter, Madani wrote "Yes, the accused fled from a country where virtual bullies push against science, knowledge and expertise and resort to conspiracy theories to find a scapegoat for all the problems because they know well that finding an enemy, spy or someone to blame is much easier than accepting responsibility and complicity in a problem".[31]

Campaigns and influence in Iran

Madani's research and outreach activities influenced water policy in Iran,[38] and he has played a major role in raising public awareness about Iran's water and environmental problems in recent years.[22][39]

By running a national campaign on waste, he tried to raise public awareness about waste and plastic pollution in Iran.[40][41] He was the initiator of the popular Bi-Zobaleh (No Waste) challenge, a social game that reminded both citizens and decision makers about their responsibilities on waste using the "Let's Start with Ourselves" slogan.[42][43] 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.[43] 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.[40]

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.[44][45][46]

Known as "Iran's expat eco-warrior",[47][48] he was considered the "Symbol of Expatriate Return" to Iran during President Rouhani's administration (2013–2021).[49][50]

Other activities

Madani was the founding director of Water SISWEB (2008-2017).[11][51] The acronym stands for "Scientific Information Syndication WEBsite",[52] intended as one of a family of SISWEBs, which are "collaborative websites, which provide scientists, researchers, and professionals with free service to know what is new and popular on the web", with each SISWEB dedicated to a different area of science. However, as of 2026, this had not grown beyond the Water SISWEB.[53]

He has published opinion pieces in The Guardian and online journals, and has posted many tweets in Farsi, in which he both criticised and defended Iran.[4]

Recognition, impact, and awards

Madani is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and of EWRI (American Society of Civil Engineers).[13][11]

He is credited with coining the term "water bankruptcy".[16] During his time in Iran, he was successful in getting plastic bottled water banned in many areas, and a national ban on super deep groundwater mining.[11]

He has received several awards for his research contributions, teaching innovations, and humanitarian activities.[11]

In 2012, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) introduced him as one of the 10 "New Faces of Civil Engineering"[54] for "work and personal achievements representing the bold and humanitarian future of civil engineering”.

He received the Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists[55] from the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in 2016 for "fundamental contributions to integrating game theory and decision analysis into water management models"[17]

Madani received the Walter L. Huber prize, which is awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers for "groundbreaking research in developing methods for the allocation of scarce water resources merging conflict-resolution and game-theoretic concepts for application to complex water resources systems”,[56][3] introducing "novel insight on how to achieve binding, long-term solutions to complex water resources problems",[57] and “outstanding leadership in the application of systems analysis to environmental, water and energy resource problems.”[38][58]

He received the Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award from the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2019[59][60] for "fundamental contributions to integrating game theory and decision analysis methods into conventional water resources systems models" and "proven dedication to education, outreach, raising public awareness on environmental and climate issues, and selfless service to the hydrologic sciences community has had major societal impacts."[61]

Madani was awarded the American Geophysical Union 2020 Ambassador Award for his contributions and leadership in research, education and outreach in the Earth and space science,[62] and for "his selfless service and outstanding societal impacts as an ambassador of the hydrologic sciences community in the real world".[63]

In March 2026 Madani was announced as the winner of the Stockholm Water Prize,[64] which is presented by the Stockholm Water Foundation in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences,[65] and "honours individuals and organisations whose work contributes significantly to the sustainable use and protection of the world's water resources".[15] King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will present Madani with the award during World Water Week in Stockholm in August.[16]

Personal life

Madani is an Iranian citizen and has frequently denied the claims by the Iranian hardliners about having additional citizenships.[66][67][68][69]

As of April 2021 he had permanent residency rights in the United States, and was married. His parents were still alive and living in Iran at that time.[4]

Footnotes

  1. ^ As of November 2020, he had more than 300 publications.[13]

References

  1. ^ American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (22 February 2012), Kaveh Madani 2012 New Face of Civil Engineering - Professional Edition, retrieved 4 March 2017
  2. ^ TEDx Talks (11 June 2015), Water: Think Again | Kaveh Madani | TEDxKish, retrieved 24 February 2017
  3. ^ a b "Remember This Face". UCF News - University of Central Florida Articles - Orlando, FL News. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tamman, Maurice (27 April 2021), (FORMERLY) NO. 684: He returned home to Iran to help its environment - then fled after falling afoul of hard-liners., archived from the original on 27 April 2021, retrieved 19 March 2026
  5. ^ "LU engineering alumnus Dr. Kaveh Madani at TEDx | FACULTY OF ENGINEERING LTH". www.lth.se. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d "Dr Kaveh Madani". Imperial College London. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Remember This Face". University of Central Florida. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  8. ^ American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (22 February 2012), Kaveh Madani 2012 New Face of Civil Engineering - Professional Edition, retrieved 18 April 2018
  9. ^ "Kaveh Madani". UCR Today. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d "About Kaveh Madani | کاوه مدنی". Kaveh Madani. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "About". Kaveh Madani. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  12. ^ a b c d "From 'water terrorist' to 'Nobel Prize of Water': Kaveh Madani named 2026 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate". EurekAlert!. 18 March 2026. Archived from the original on 19 March 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  13. ^ a b "Kaveh Madani". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Kaveh Madani Named as Next Director of UNU-INWEH - United Nations University". United Nations University. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Global water governance pioneer Professor Kaveh Madani receives the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize". Stockholm Water Foundation. 18 March 2026. Archived from the original on 19 March 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  16. ^ a b c "CCNY Research Professor Kaveh Madani wins 'Nobel Prize of Water'". The City College of New York. 18 March 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  17. ^ a b "EGU". European Geosciences Union (EGU). Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  18. ^ Madani, Kaveh (19 January 2026). "Water Bankruptcy: The Formal Definition". Water Resources Management. 40 (2): 78. doi:10.1007/s11269-025-04484-0. ISSN 1573-1650.
  19. ^ "Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era". United Nations University. 20 January 2026. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  20. ^ "World enters era of 'global water bankruptcy' | UN News". news.un.org. 20 January 2026. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
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  22. ^ a b "Kaveh Madani appointed Iran's deputy environment chief". Tehran Times. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  23. ^ "Iran proposes regional center for SDS assessment". Tehran Times. 9 December 2017. Archived from the original on 7 February 2026. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  24. ^ "Greater than the sum of its parts: Deceiving assumptions and misleading policies in modelling and managing water". Water Institute. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  25. ^ "کاوه مدنی سرپرست مرکز امور بین‌الملل و کنوانسیون‌های سازمان حفاظت محیط زیست شد". ana.ir (in Persian). Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  26. ^ "ناصر مقدسی جایگزین کاوه مدنی در مرکز امور بین‌الملل سازمان محیط زیست شد". ایسنا (in Persian). 17 April 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  27. ^ Madani, Kaveh (14 November 2019). "Politicians don't lead movements — people do". Medium. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  28. ^ "Iran's statement (COP 23)" (PDF). UNFCCC.
  29. ^ "On my way back to Tehran, I like to thank the Governments of Fiji & Germany ..." 17 November 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  30. ^ UNEA 3-Iran's National Statement by Dr. Kaveh Madani سومین مجمع محیط زیست ملل متحد-دکتر کاوه مدنی, 15 April 2018, retrieved 8 January 2020
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  33. ^ agencies, The New Arab &. "Iran launches wave of arrests against environmentalists". alaraby. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
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  35. ^ "Pressed by Hard-Liners, U.S.-Trained Environmentalist Quits Post in Iran". The New York Times. 18 April 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  36. ^ "An Iranian researcher went home to serve his country. Now, 'I realize that I'm lucky I'm not in prison.'". Science | AAAS. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  37. ^ Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (18 April 2018). "Top scientist leaves Iran after crackdown on environmentalists". the Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  38. ^ a b "Imperial reader receives ASCE's prestigious Huber Prize". 20 April 2017.
  39. ^ "Can a 36-year-old Scientist Solve Iran's Water Crisis?". IranWire | خانه. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  40. ^ a b Bizar, Maysam (19 April 2018). "How an anti-waste challenge went viral in Iran". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
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  43. ^ a b "Iran's DEO: No-Rubbish Campaign Successful". Financial Tribune. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  44. ^ "چالش بی زباله چیست و کدام سیاسیون و افراد مشهور ایران در آن شرکت می‌کنند؟". پایگاه خبری جماران - امام خمینی - انقلاب اسلامی (in Persian). Retrieved 8 January 2020.
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  47. ^ "Kaveh Madani, Iran's expat eco-warrior who was on too many fronts | Gareth Smyth". AW. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  48. ^ "An Iranian Patriot Vs. a Corrupt System". IranWire | خانه. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
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  50. ^ Rupp, Kelsey (26 May 2018). "In Iran's water crisis, Tehran sows the seeds of its own decline". TheHill. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  51. ^ "WaterSISWEB". SISWEBS. 5 July 2015. Archived from the original on 11 February 2026. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  52. ^ "About Us". WaterSISWEB. Archived from the original on 22 January 2026. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  53. ^ "Home". SISWEBS. 1 May 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
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  61. ^ "Konar, Long, and Madani Receive 2019 Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award | EOS". www.eos.org/. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  62. ^ "Announcing the 2020 AGU Union Medal, Award, and Prize Recipients". Eos. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  63. ^ "Ambassador Award | AGU". www.agu.org. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  64. ^ Salvidge, Rachel (19 March 2026). "'They called me a water terrorist': exiled Iranian scientist wins global prize". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 March 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  65. ^ "Stockholm Water Prize". SWF - Stockholm Water Foundation. 18 March 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  66. ^ "Iranian Hardliners Continue Attacks on Former Environmental Official Kaveh Madani". Center for Human Rights in Iran. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  67. ^ Erdbrink, Thomas (18 April 2018). "Pressed by Hard-Liners, U.S.-Trained Environmentalist Quits Post in Iran". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  68. ^ Madani, Kaveh (14 November 2019). "Why is Iran so paranoid about environmentalism?". Medium. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  69. ^ "Iran's Environmentalists Are Caught Up in a Political Power Struggle". Human Rights Watch. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
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