Peace. Food. Water.
Ask anyone what they want for their children, and the answer will contain these three. Now ask a harder question: if you could secure only one, which would you choose?
You can’t. No one can. And that is the quiet truth at the center of our century — the essentials of life can no longer simply be chosen. They must be negotiated. Between nations, between generations, between what we need today and what must survive us tomorrow.
To negotiate what people cannot live without — is there a heavier responsibility? And can such a responsibility be learned, or is it something you are given?
I once believed it was given — given to others. When I began, I had none of the visible qualifications. Not the languages, not the tools, not the codes of the rooms where such decisions are made. Everything around me suggested this world was not meant for me. What I discovered, step by step, is that the capacity to carry this responsibility is not inherited. It is built — through preparation, through persistence, through the slow work of earning your place at tables that were never set for you.
I also remember what preparation cost in those years. There was no artificial intelligence to brief you, no radar scanning the horizon of policy. Information was a privilege — locked in documents you couldn’t access, networks you didn’t belong to, capitals you had never seen. To walk into a negotiation prepared, some of us had to work ten times harder for one-tenth of the knowledge. I promised myself that if I ever built something, the next generation would never face that arithmetic. Today, the intelligence that once belonged to the few can be placed in the hands of the many — and that is precisely what we have built.
And the moment I found my own seat, a second question arrived, more demanding than the first. People I loved asked me, honestly: how are you part of this? Behind their question stood something larger — the belief that these rooms belong only to a few.
I refuse that belief. If I have learned that this responsibility can be built, then my responsibility is to help others build it: those who never had the opportunity, and those who studied different paths but carry what negotiation truly requires — judgment, patience, and care for what is at stake.
There were also those who doubted — my path, my place, sometimes the work itself. I have come to owe them something: every question I couldn’t yet answer sent me back to prepare harder, and every closed door taught me which one to open next. Doubt, I learned, is only fatal to those who argue with it. To those who outwork it, it becomes a compass.
That is why The Green Diplomat exists. Not to speak for a generation, but to prepare one. To make the craft of negotiating our common future something that can be learned, shared, and passed on — until the rooms where peace, food, and water are decided look like the world they decide for.
Because the future is not something we inherit.
It is something we negotiate.
Hatim Aznague, known as the Green Diplomat, serves in the Stability and Resilience Division of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). His work focuses on advancing climate and energy policies, sustainable development, and strengthening regional cooperation in the Mediterranean, while integrating security considerations into policy design to ensure stability and resilience.
He has served as an international consultant and worked with global institutions, including the United Nations and affiliated agencies, where he contributed to climate negotiations and policy processes. His expertise spans inclusive climate governance, fair financing mechanisms, and the engagement of youth in global decision-making frameworks.
In that capacity, Mr. Aznague contributes to the development of strategies on clean energy transition, climate change adaptation, and security-sensitive approaches to sustainability. His research and field experience have reinforced the understanding of regional climate vulnerabilities and the links between environmental risks and security challenges.
He is a recipient of the United Nations SDG Action Award in the Mobilizer category, which recognized his capacity to bring together communities and institutions around high-impact initiatives. With a background in law, diplomacy, and international relations, Hatim Aznague continues to play an active role in shaping inclusive and resilient policy solutions across the Mediterranean and beyond. He is a doctoral researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
Green Diplomat is an independent initiative. Views expressed here are personal and do not represent any employer, institution, or government.
UNFCCC negotiation, NDCs, climate justice, and the science–policy interface.
Scenario planning, futures literacy, anticipatory governance, science diplomacy.
Just-transition frameworks, green hydrogen, Euro-Mediterranean energy cooperation.
The climate–security nexus, cross-border risk, and climate-induced displacement.
Quantification, the Loss and Damage Fund, and the financing of adaptation.
Hatim collaborates with institutions, forums, and media on climate diplomacy, strategic foresight, and the energy transition — through keynotes and panels, strategic advisory, executive training, and institutional partnerships.
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