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From the deserts of Chad<\/a> to the halls of the United Nations<\/a>, In recognition of her unrelenting efforts, Ibrahim, Conservation International\u2019s Senior Indigenous Fellow, was recently awarded the 2019 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award<\/a> presented by the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe voices of indigenous people are being heard here \u2014 through me, through all of you and through this prize,\u201d said Ibrahim after receiving the award<\/a>, which included a US$ 100,000 prize. \u201cWe are all together. We will win this battle; I am so confident.\u201d<\/p>\n A member of the Mbororo indigenous community of southern Chad<\/a>, Ibrahim saw the adverse impacts of climate breakdown from a young age. As semi-nomadic herders, the Mbororo people historically migrated close to Lake Chad during the dry As the lake dries up, internal conflict among communities in Chad and neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria is intensifying due to competition for access to this shared water source.<\/p>\n To engage communities across these countries in collaboration \u2014 rather than conflict \u2014 Ibrahim developed a three-dimensional mapping system of the region, which enables people from different communities to share their knowledge of natural resources in the area. With these maps, communities can more readily locate and share critical resources such as fresh water. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m from a region where people can fight for a piece of land, because their survival \u2014 and the survival of their family \u2014 depends on it,\u201d said Ibrahim, explaining her mission. \u201cWhen communities learn to map, protect and share natural resources, all together, they are not only protecting nature, they are also building peace.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Kiley Price is a staff writer for Conservation International.<\/em><\/p>\n Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for email updates\u00a0here<\/a>. Donate to Conservation International\u00a0<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nHindou Oumarou Ibrahim has been a tireless advocate for indigenous peoples in the fight to solve the climate crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nseason in search of water for their cattle. But over the past 50 years, the lake has shrunk by more than 90 percent <\/a>\u2014 from 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles) to less than 2,000 square kilometers (770 square miles).<\/p>\n