Renowned environmental rights activist Syeda Rizwana Hasan has become the new interim government's advisor to the ministry of environment, forests and climate change.
She is a lawyer of the Supreme Court. She is also the chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).
Rizwana is active concerning environmental related issues within the country. In 2012 she received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, considered to be the Asian Nobel Prize, for her contribution to environmental justice.
She is one of the Time magazine's Top 40 Environmental Heroes of the World.
She is the chairperson of the development organisation RDRS and is on the board of several NGOs in the country, including FIVDB, Nijera Kori, Association for Land Reforms and Development (ALRD), Gonoshasthaya Kendra and BRAC.
Syed Rizwana Hasan was born on 15 January 1968. She began working with BELA from 1993. She earned her Bachelor's degree and Master's degree from the law department of Dhaka University.