ISSUE 48/DEC2022 - Flipbook - Page 62
Africa’s Most Influential Women | EVERYDAY HEROES
Right at the frontlines of climate change action in the Sahel, Hindou
stands out as a one of a kind activist, harnessing Indigenous knowledge
to advance climate solutions, resilience, adaptation and mitigation
though newer technological tools.
Hindou who hails from the nomadic
Mbororo community in Chad is the
founder and leader of the Association for
Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad
(AFPAT).
The AFPAT’s mission is to improve the
living conditions of the Mbororo Fulani
of Chad, particularly the indigenous
Fulani women of Chad, by working on the
defence of fundamental rights, the creation
of economic activities and the protection
and management of the natural resources
which depend on the nomadic herding
communities. AFPAT uses innovative
methods to work on the resolution of
land conflicts, participatory 3-dimensional
mapping of natural resources, and the fight
against climate change and desertification,
as well as the protection of biodiversity.
With her homeland, Chad being one the
worst affected by climate crisis and the
UN classifying it as “one of the world’s
most environmentally degraded countries”,
Hindou knows all too well what this calls
for, telling the Guardian (UK): “If you’re
born as an Indigenous person, you’re born
an activist, because you’re born with the
problems surrounding your community.”
Given those difficulties, Hindou’s advocacy
focuses on environmental protection and
the rights and well-being of indigenous
peoples, especially indigenous women.
Hindou believes that climate change has a
particularly negative impact on indigenous
women. For example, Lake Chad, a key
source of water for the Peule Mbororo, was
once one of the largest lakes in the world
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but has shrunk by 90% since the 1960s.
According to Hindou, the water scarcity
that has ensued, contributes to cows
producing less milk, curtailing a crucial
source of income and sustenance. As such,
she explains, this climate change-induced
forces men to leave their agricultural
communities in search of alternative
sources of income, leaving women to
raise children on their own in very difficult
circumstances.
Today, Hindou’s advocacy has expanded
to encompass indigenous people all over
the world. She is also the co-Chair of the
International Indigenous Peoples Forum
on Climate Change. She also seats on
Earthshot Prize Council which selects the
Earthshot Prize. The council includes other
heavyweights such as William - the Prince
of Wales, Jack Ma, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
and globally renown environmentalist and
filmmaker Sir David Attenborough. she was
on the Jury that choose the 2022 Earthshot
winers which took place in Boston, USA
recently.
“
■
If you are born as an Indigenous
person, you’re born an activist,
because you’re born with
the problems surrounding
your community.”