With an academic background in environmental sciences, Jamal holds a Doctoral degree in Physical Geography from the University of Cologne, Germany.
She started as a researcher at the National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna of Turkmenistan where she spent more than ten years of applied research on sustainable land management, dryland agriculture, community-based forest and rangeland restoration. Later, she was able to apply her scientific experience in the development projects and programmes with multilateral and bilateral development and donor agencies in the region of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
From 2011 to 2021, Jamal worked as the Regional Coordinator for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, where she assisted country Parties in promoting a land restoration agenda as a solution to biodiversity loss, climate change, and livelihoods.
Currently, Jamal leads the work on forest biodiversity and ecosystem restoration at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. She coordinates the work of the Secretariat on the Collaborative Partnership on Forest, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the development and implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Target 2 Roadmap, the initiative to support CBD Parties in the implementation of ecosystem restoration commitments.