Environmental activist and member of Chad’s pastoralist Mbororo community, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim began advocating for Indigenous rights and environmental protection at age 16, founding the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad (AFPAT) to introduce new income revenue activities for women and collaborative tools such as 3D participatory mapping to build sustainable ecosystems management and reduction of nature-based resource conflicts. Her vision is to grow support for both traditional knowledge and science to improve resilience to climate change especially for rural communities. 

She is a member of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee and served as co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change during the historic UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. She is dedicated to the protection of all Indigenous peoples, from the Congo to the Arctic, and the value of their knowledge in the fight against climate change. She advances environmental protection for Indigenous peoples by participating in international policy dialogues held around the three Rio Conventions; Climate Change (UNFCCC), Biodiversity (CBD), and Desertification (UNCCD) pressuring governments to recognize land rights of Indigenous peoples and advance their solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation.

Ibrahim’s work with indigenous communities at the local and global level has achieved broad recognition and support including, the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award, the Daniel Mitterrand Prize, appointment as a UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate, Conservation International board member and Lui-Walton Senior Fellow, EAT advisory board member and National Geographic Explorer. She was recognized by  BBC  as a top 100 women leader and by TIME’s Women Leaders in Climate Change.  Her TED talk on Indigenous knowledge meets science to solve climate change has surpassed more than 1 million views.