Helping Indigenous People Survive the Destruction of Their Land From Climate Change

This article is part of a Women and Leadership special report highlighting the work by women around the world addressing climate change.

When Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim was growing up in Chad, she felt the impact of climate change firsthand — and still does today. A member of the Mbororo Indigenous people, Ms. Oumarou Ibrahim is part of a nomadic community that migrates throughout pastoral land.

Extreme heat with temperatures that reach more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit is the norm in Chad, she said, and climbing higher and lasting longer each year. “The weather because of climate change is paralyzing,” Ms. Oumarou Ibrahim, 41, said. “It has made water scarce and has other negative impacts on the Mbororo.”

Ms. Oumarou Ibrahim’s experience led her to establish the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples Organization of Chad (AFPAT) when she was 12; the group connects with Mbororo communities to ensure their rights to land and access to natural resources. Today, she’s an environmental activist and travels worldwide to advocate for the rights of the Mbororo people.

In November, for example, she attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Baku, Azerbaijan, and in December, she will participate in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Ms. Oumarou Ibrahim is also the chairwoman of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She divides her time between Paris, Chad’s capital city, N’Djamena, and the country’s pastoral land.

The interview, conducted on video while Ms. Oumarou Ibrahim was in Baku for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, has been edited and condensed.