Fatima Jibrell (1947-present) is a prominent Somali environmental activist. In the wake of her country’s devastating civil war, she founded a non-profit focused on protecting its pastoral land. She has been a strong proponent of community-driven change as a method for tackling climate change.
Fatima Jibrell (1947-present) is a prominent Somali environmental activist. In the wake of her country’s devastating civil war, she founded a non-profit focused on protecting its pastoral land. She has been a strong proponent of community-driven change as a method for tackling climate change.
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Hello from Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
This month, we’re highlighting Eco Warriors: women fighting for conservation and ecological justice.
Today, we’re talking about a woman who is a prominent environmental activist in Africa. In the wake of her country’s devastating civil war, she founded a non-profit focused on protecting its pastoral land. She has been a strong proponent of community-driven change as a method for tackling climate change.
Let’s talk about Fatima Jibrell.
Fatima Jibrell was born on December 30, 1947 in Sanaag, Somalia. She grew up in a pastoralist family whose way of life revolved around raising livestock. At a young age, Fatima began herding baby goats with her cousins.
Her family lived in savanna land, with tall, lush grasses. And often, her parents worried about her wandering into the grasslands for fear that she might end up face to face with a lion.
Fatima moved to the United States when she was in high school, after her father settled there working as a merchant marine. She also completed an undergraduate degree in the U.S.
As a young woman Fatima returned to Somalia and met a diplomat, Abdulrahman Mohamoud Ali, whom she married. Fatima moved with her husband to Iraq when he was stationed for work. And hen he was sent to the United States, Fatima joined him. There, earned her Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Connecticut.
While Fatima was studying in the United States, chaos was brewing in her home country. In 1991, after the ousting of then-President Siad Barre, civil war broke out in Somalia. Fatima felt compelled to take action. The fighting destroyed the agricultural sector of Somalia, and hundreds of thousands of its citizens starved.
In the early 1990s, Fatima returned to Somalia and founded an organization called Horn Relief, now known under the name ADESO, or African Development Solutions,. The aim was to support peace through community-based environmental initiatives.
Having grown up at a time when livestock was Somalia’s principal export, Fatima saw how war and climate change were ravaging the landscape. The lush savanna land was becoming a dusty desert.
One cause was charcoal production. In the years following the outset of the civil war, livestock was on the decline as an export, while charcoal was in high demand in the Gulf countries. As charcoal production picked up, logging companies began decimating the ancient acacia [uh-KAY-shah] tree.
Fatima and her organization made it their mission to train youth to launch education campaigns. They taught local Somalians about the environmental harm caused by charcoal production. With ADESO, she organized a peaceful march in Puntland, a northeastern state in Somalia, advocating to end the so-called charcoal wars. The combination of her advocacy and education efforts led to a ban on charcoal exports in Puntland. subsequently decreasing exports by 80%. By 2012, Somalia had banned the export of charcoal throughout the country, though an illegal trade still exists.
Fatima’s environmental activism has led to real change in Somalia, but the stakes remain high. In an interview with NPR, Fatima said:
"Maybe the land, a piece of desert called Somalia, will exist on the map of the world, but Somalis cannot survive."
In 2014, Fatima was awarded the UN Environmental Programme Champions of the Earth award for her fight against the charcoal trade.
She officially retired from ADESO in 2013, and her daughter Degan Ali, has since become the executive director of the organization.
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Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
As always, we’ll be taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you on Monday!