Our People

Nivine Issa

Nivine is an environmental expert and a commercially astute business leader, with over 13 years’ consulting experience in the Middle East, UK, and Southeast Asia. She lived in Dubai for the past decade where she helped establish a global environmental consulting business, serving a wide array of clients in solving their biggest environmental challenges. She recently founded Terra Nexus with the aim to build an all-encompassing environmental firm that accelerates and leads environmental consulting excellence in the region.

Over the course of her career, Nivine developed an extensive global professional network coupled with exceptional negotiation skills which resulted in exponential business growth across a vast portfolio of environmental projects. Having won the Construction Week Middle East’s Female leader of the year in 2022, she is recognized for building one of the strongest and most diverse environmental and waste engineering teams in the region.

With a background in environmental health and sustainable development, she has led and directed the delivery of a wide range of projects in the infrastructure and built environment sector. Nivine’s unmatched passion for the environmental consultancy sector is driven by the principle of ‘Building with Nature’ which ignites her quest for simple yet innovative solutions for achieving project needs while maintaining the integrity of the environment.

Sara Rahme

Sara is a senior environmental expert with over a decade of consulting experience in the region. Sara has extensive experience in project management and the delivery of mega projects in the UAE, KSA and the wider GCC region. Her project management skills include understanding the client needs across the different Project stages, meeting expectations, controlling cost and budget, project planning, foreseeing and managing technical project risks, and ensuring the timely and effective delivery of a wide variety of projects.

Over the course of her career, Sara has worked on a number of large, complex and comprehensive development and infrastructure ESIA studies for the majority of regional environmental authorities. She has delivered on, and project managed environmental and social impact assessments (EIA/ESIA), preliminary environmental review (PER) studies, construction environmental management plans and programs (i.e. CEMPs), environmental auditing and compliance programs (i.e. ISO 14001) in line with local and international standards. Her experience spans over a multitude of industries including property development, construction, infrastructure, renewable energies, oil and gas, and transport.

Sara joins Terra Nexus as our Projects Manager and ESIA lead, overseeing projects delivery and leading technical delivery of environmental projects in the region.

Mark Tupper

Mark is a multidisciplinary marine science professional with a PhD and track record in marine environmental protection and fisheries management. He has strong capabilities in institutional management, stakeholder/client relations, communications, and capacity building.

Mark offers strong technical and scientific knowledge developed over his 30-year career in marine ecology and fisheries science as he approaches problems analytically and with a data-driven mindset. His specific areas of expertise include: fish habitat management, geographic information systems, statistical analysis, EIA, fisheries management planning and policy development, population assessment, scientific diving, biodiversity conservation and protected areas management.

In addition to his research career in the UK, Canada, Asia and the Caribbean, Mark has consulted on a number of infrastructure, renewable energy, and development projects in the Middle East amongst other parts of the world.

Mark joins Terra Nexus as our Ecology Lead, overseeing the implementation of biodiversity surveys, ecological impact assessments and management plans.

Roshan Akther

Roshan is an experienced environmental and GIS consultant, skilled in environmental data analysis and planning. He brings 10 years of experience in academia and consultancy to deliver environmental planning projects here in the region.

He is well-versed in a wide range of environmental reporting, such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) and various environmental baseline studies.

Notably, he has contributed to the academic field with several research articles in environmental management, GIS, and Remote Sensing, published in peer-reviewed journals and research conferences. His expertise also extends to multiple criteria decision-making approaches using GIS and remote sensing technologies for environmental applications.

Roshan's philosophy revolves around a holistic, systems-thinking approach to environmental management, emphasizing the interconnectedness of environmental phenomena. He also advocates for leveraging spatial tools and software to their fullest potential for enhanced decision-making.

Roshan joins Terra Nexus as an Environmental & GIS Consultant, working on environmental planning, impacts studies, and environmental due diligence projects.

Liubov Kobik

Liubov is a junior environmental consultant with 5 years’ experience authoring and leading environmental studies and marine habitat surveys. Having graduated with a Bachelor of Ecology and Nature Management, she worked as a GIS engineer applying her skills in remote sensing and geospatial mapping for nature conservation and development projects.
Having worked in both Russia, KSA and the UAE, Liubov has particiapted in numerous environmental impact assessment studies, ecological habitat assessments, and biodiversity monitoring programs. She has conducted environmental work on projects of various typologies such as aquaculture, utility, infrastructure and the built environment. She is particularly well-versed in GIS applications, remote sensing, and photogrammetry data processing and analysis.
Liubov joins Terra Nexus as a junior environmental consultant supporting the execution of environmental planning and assessment projects.

Farah Kassab

Farah is an accomplished urban planner with over 13 years of experience in leading and delivering large-scale, mixed-use master plans in the Gulf region. She has held technical and operational lead roles within an international multidisciplinary consultancy, spearheading urban design, planning, and landscape division. Farah has also undertaken senior secondment roles for high-profile semi-private and government entities. Her expertise encompasses technical planning, project management, and stakeholder engagement, with a proven track record in executing master planning projects for prominent UAE government and private entities.
Farah's leadership has been pivotal in the successful delivery of diverse master plans, from strategic frameworks to detailed designs. In 2020, Farah completed an MBA, equipping her with advanced business acumen and strategic management skills, which enhance her ability to deliver value-driven, innovative solutions in complex urban planning projects.
Farah joins Terra Nexus as an Urban Planning Expert, supporting our environmental planning projects.