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LSE: Public lectures and events
Women, nature, and 2030: a transformational global climate solution
01:26:33
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Welcome to the LSE Events podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science. Get ready to hear from some of the most influential international figures in the social sciences.
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Welcome to LSE for this hybrid event. My name is Naila Kabir and I'm Emeritus professor at the. Just lost my thread. At the International Inequalities Institute and the Department for International Development. I am very pleased to be introducing Zainab Salvi to both our online audience and to our audience here at the lse. Zainab is a humanitarian, an author and a media host who has dedicated her life to women's rights and global freedom. At the remarkable age of 23, she founded Women for Women International after a visit to Bosnia. This was an organization that has worked with women in conflict situations with over 460,000 women survivors of war. Zeynep stepped down from the leadership of Women for Women International and then she became engaged in writing and producing shows about women in the Middle East. But I don't think she reduced the pace of her work because about eight or nine years ago she fell extremely ill and I think she was looking at death in the face. So I'm not going to dwell on that. I'm going to dwell on the consequences of this life changing experience. And that is the role that nature played in her healing and her realization of the central role that nature plays in all our lives. It led her to her current role as the co founder of a philanthropic fund and movement for supporting, celebrating and mobilizing women who protect and restore the natural world. It is called Daughters for Earth. This lecture will share some research she's been doing revealing how these women's leadership is providing new pathways to address the climate crisis. I would also like to say that as we hope that Jenna will be, she's professor of Practice now at the International Inequalities Institute and a part of our program on gender justice and well being. And I see her talk today as a part of our collective effort to reach beyond academia and to talk about the things that might in the end help us to save the planet. So the event is being recorded and will hopefully be made public, made available as a podcast, subject to no technical difficulties of course. As usual, there will be a chance for you to ask questions for our online audience. You can submit your questions via the Q and A feature at the bottom of your screen, but please let us know your name and affiliation. For those of you in the theatre, I will let you know when we open the floor for questions and if you raise your hand and I Indicate you can pose your question and a microphone will come your way. In the same way, I ask the online audience to also provide their names and affiliations. And I am now very, very delighted to hand over to Zainab. Welcome, Zainab.
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Thank you. I am told that I can speak from here. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, great. First of all, I'm very excited to be back to my alma mater, lse. It had a huge impact on my. On my career and my way of thinking about life and about women particularly. Second, to be introduced by my professor that, well, you never taught me, but I read every single thing that you have written and swallowed everything and had a huge impact on my understanding on gender issues and economic development. And third, I will start. This is odd for me. I will start with a story I don't usually read, but allow me, because some of it is technical issues that I will have to read. And then we'll go from it. I'll start with a story, as Naila said, with an unraveling and a weaving of a new story. My story began actually six and a half years ago when I almost died. And it was between the edges of life and death, actually, there was a moment in which I thought that I was taking my last breath. It's still very emotional for me. Up until then, I measured my worth by familiar markers, accomplishments, financial and social safety, and the relevance of my contribution to the world. And even though I'm a humanitarian who have dedicated my life to humanitarian service, I was still counting how many women my work has touched. I was still counting. Some people count other numbers, money, houses, whatever it is. I was counting number of humans, but still counting. Then everything unraveled. I lost my cognitive abilities for a year and a half. Thinking itself became an excruciating hard thing. My nervous system collapsed. And even the everyday sound of the city, cars, trains and horns, felt like the roar of war. Now, I know wars very well. I grew up in wars and I worked in wars for 30 years of my life. But I was used to the sounds of wars. I even took naps in the middle of sirens and, and sniper raids and all of these things. It just was very used to it. Not this time. Not when I was sick. Not when I lost my cognitive abilities. And so the sound of the city became extremely hard for me to live in. And I had to take refuge in nature. It was my only safe space. It was quiet, it was patient and wise, and it's stillness. I learned to listen, to truly listen, not with my mind, which could no longer think clearly, but with my heart, which I discovered held a deeper wisdom I had never known. In that listening, I found beauty everywhere, even in the broken trees. I heard actually I learned that the heart has wisdom and has ears and has thoughts and language of its own and we just need to train it to listen to it or train ourselves rather to listen to it. That period with any unraveling was very confusing for me. Without the ability to think or write, I kept on asking, who am I? Who am I? If I can't produce, if I can't speak, if I cannot do things, then who am I? And so a year and a half was spent in walking in natures and meditating, playing piano, doing some, some art. And at the end of a year and a half, so I'm reporting here back, I am healthy. It was an unknown viral infection. It treated. I'm okay. But I came out with very simple truths, at least for me. One is, how dare I ask who am I? I am, I am. And the second is joy actually is always in the heart. We all just, we need to awaken it. And the third, nature saved me. I was having visceral react like hearing nature. I mean you hear people who have had psychedelics experience hearing the trees and I was not on any psychedelics and I was hearing the trees talking to me like it was really like, you go girl, you can live, you can walk, you can. I mean I was like having a really a real example of, of like hearing natures. Now as my story unraveled, a new story began to weave itself. One grounded in gratitude, in nature. And I did not. And though I did not understand climate change or the biodiversity laws or planetary health, as a scientist, I'm not. I understood it as a decent citizens buy electric cars, recycle, I don't use bottles of plastics. The basic things we all know I did not understand exactly. More. And so in my personal gratitude to nature, I was like, I shall find a way to use what I know. Women's rights. I've dedicated myself to women's rights and freedom and apply it to. How do I look into the intersection between women's rights and women and what's happening to nature? And that began my exploration that led me to a treasure I am sharing with you today. Now, before we go to the treasure and we will find the treasure. Oh, I have to do my slides. How do I do that? I was all supposed to go with my talk of nature. I don't think it's a surprise to talk about an unraveling of our world today system structures, long held agreements are breaking down right as we speak today. As a matter of fact, just this month the US withdrew from 66 international organizations, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, what's known as the IPCC and the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the very treaty designed to unify global climate action efforts. This follows a year of sharp cuts to global aid by major donors such as the us, the uk, France and Germany. Nations that collectively provided two thirds of global aid over the last decade. The stated reason? Redirecting funds towards defense and security. Just the US they want to double the defense or what's called Department of War at the moment by 50% by 2027. The consequences of that cut is so magnificent that I don't think we have had gotten the reports of the impact of this particularly on the most marginalized. Just, just snippets on that violence against women already increasing in ways that is really concerning. This follows a year of sharp. So it is deeply ironic yet that at the time when our planetary health demands unprecedented cooperation, nations are retreating internationalism and militarization. Now remember, I am a product of war, but I'm also an expert on wars and peace. And so I always look at the world from that perspective is how I got trained. And and climate change or the planetary health requires us to collaborate. That's the only way to move forward. Give you an example, more particular example. Soil. Soil does not know who is Ukrainian, who's Russian, who is Palestinian, who's Israeli or who is which of the warring faction between the Sudanese or the Dr. Congo or any of the countries that are fighting. And yet every time we engage in war, because especially in using weapons for weapons, from their manufacturing to testing to detonation poisons the soil one of the most important carbon sequester turning it from healthy soil into a carbon sink. Unhealthy soil. The poison of weapons by itself continues to last up to a century in that soil. In that century, our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren will hopefully get married and fall in love with each other despite their parents fighting with each other today. But the soil will continue to poison us for generations to come. And this is just a small example how climate change requires us to find other ways of collaborating and dealing with our differences rather rather than just fighting, which is what we are doing right now. The UN A recent UN report reminds us that in an increasingly interconnected world, multilateral collaboration is vital to addressing global changes and achieving the SDG's Sustainable Development Goals. What Sustainable development goals. I ask. It is so concerning right now that we are not only failing to reach our goals by 2030, we're also struggling to find our ways through the chaos of now. I learned recently there are differences between pathfinders and wayfinders. Pathfinders know their destination and create the route to reach it. Wayfinders, however, are lost. Yet in their lostness, they discover new ways forward. Our European leaders, leaders today are pathfinders. They're trying to find a path forward to deal with the US Greenlandish issue. But we also need, also need the wayfinders for our planetary health. For. For we are not doing very well. And our planet and our like other system, our planetary health is also unraveling. According to the 2025 Planetary Health Check, our planet is now in the high risk zone. I don't know if you see that line. We are here. We're in the red zone, okay? With seven of the nine planetary boundaries already crossed. The latest being ocean acidity, just published in September. September of last year. Just yesterday report came out of scientists warning of regime change or regime shifts in our oceans, or seaweed blooms spreading rapidly due to warming waters, darkening seas, altering chemistry and creating dead zones for marine life. This is just today's, yesterday's story, as a matter of fact. And we're finding these stories over and over and over. Over the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels is slipping beyond reach. Especially as major powers deny or defund the very efforts needed to sustain life. And yet this is a scientific reality. There is no dispute about it. Like this is happening to us. Whether we agree, whether we don't agree, whether we agree on this mechanics or not. The global is warming. Scientists call it global weirding. But the weather as we know it in the past, as we grew up knowing, is no longer be the same. It's going to be weird in its trajectories. And declining planetary health comes at an immense cost, economic, ecological and human. We are losing species at an alarming, alarming rate where 1 in 3, 3 species will be lost by 2070. Some of your children will not see the species of plants or animals that you are familiar with, right? In hundreds of millions of hectares of fertile land degraded each year. In 2025 alone, extreme weather, heat waves, floods and droughts caused 43 billion euros in damages across the EU. And with that action, this will amount to 126 billion euros by 2029. The question isn't whether the planet is changing, but how do we respond? How do we adapt, reduce harm and reimagine our relationships with Earth? There are times in which our actions and interventions did make a difference. That's the optimist. There's hope in this story. I do not mean to be in despair. Their hope actually, and also examples were in 1987 when the scientists discovered the ozone layer actually were in danger. The world was able to come together, agree in the Montreal Agreement, reduce all the chemicals that we were producing that was hurting and damaging the ozone layers. And that collective actions actually in banning these substance did heal the ozone layers with a projection over full recovery by mid century. This only happened in the 80s. Some of you were not born yet, but I was. So it is possible and we have enough track record to show interventions that actually can mitigate some of that damage and can even reduce that damage if we interfere. Some of the scientists, so I work with a lot of scientists now talk about if we do not do anything, we're going to get to the. It just keeps on getting redder and redder and redder until it's called purple, deep purple. So we are in this fluctuation point. But I learned working in wars to always look for points of hope. Always wars, in my experience, or all crisis does show you the worst acts of humanity. And some of them are extremely awful. But if you look, if you just look closer, you always, always, always see the best acts of humanity as well. I'm a witness of that so many times that's a different lecture. But I believed, I believe that there's always hope, no matter what. And that's in my opinion, where nature comes now. Through Nate, I find interesting. Nature is declining in an unprecedented rate. It remains yet one of our strongest allies in combating climate change. Forests, wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs not only observe carbon, but also protect shorelines, provide livelihoods and heal ecosystems. To be exact, nature can deliver up to 1/3, actually between 1/3 and 30 seconds. 7% of greenhouse gas reductions needed by 2030. This is great news, this great news. The solutions are there. Some are old and ancient, as in agroforestry and diversified cropping systems. I mean, I remember growing up in where farming was a diversified cropping, right? And some are new and innovative in as in bioenergy from waste and payments from for ecosystem services. Which is fascinating because we all are using nature economically. Nature is the foundation of our prosperity. Half of the global GDP, an estimated $114 trillion in 2025, depends heavily or moderately on nature. We take from nature without thinking what do we need to return? Even if paying her back taxes or appreciation of nature. All of us. All of us, right? Just to give an example, Ecosystem services are worth about 150 trillion a year. Yet only 18% of private investments supports nature positive initiatives. There remains and thereby remains 700 billion annual billion dollars annual gap in biodiversity funding. Let's hollow. Let me explain every industry, it depends on nature. Fashion industry depends on water, right? When we take water, we do not think, we do not reciprocate to that water. I find it no matter, no, no wonder nature is referred as she, right? Because it's like just like a mother, you take, you take, you take, you give, you give, you give. And then it's like you're never thanking her or you're lucky if you're thanking her, right? You just like. It's a very typical story story. It's interesting I find actually if nature has a song it will be I will survive. Walk out the door, don't turn around anymore. Because it's like we she's abused woman. Really we are just taking from her and not thanking her. And not all of us a photographer who take a picture of a great lion and sells it is not thinking back. The lions are not paying back to say what's the well being of the lion population in here? Or the elephants. All of us are guilty in the taking of nature without understanding that actually this is a regenerative process that needs to give and take. So at this time we have all this time we have been focused on economic and technical solutions to climate change. We forgot to also pay attention to the emotional impact of nature. And that is the issue of our planetary health is not only a warming one, an economic one, a dangerous one, but it's also a hum on the, on. On human species. It is also an emotional one and that I find amazing because this is, sorry the slide I just talked about, but here it is. Recently Derby University published University of Derby rather showed a report, the publisher report shows 60% decline in human connection to nature since the 1800s. An extinction of experience they call it. And they particularly cite people who are between the age of 11 to 30 who have forgotten or dropped their nature connection. They talk about the arbitrage in nature related words in literature. One study from King College, from King's College and NHS Wales shows that even a brief encounter with birds and bird songs significantly improve mental health and well being. And so we are completely putting that on the side that we are disconnecting our relationship with nature and yet just the presence of nature, just simple birds, actually improve our mental health. But the study was that not only on average people, it was actually on people in institutions and how this impacted and rapidly impacted their, their healing process. Now, so how does that impact women? I have to say, preface in here, I do not believe I am someone who have dedicated my life to the marginalized, the most marginalized people in the world, and that particularly includes women. And yet I do not believe women are superior or inferior to women. I do not believe when people say if only the world is ruled by women, we will be in a better place. I don't believe that. I think the good, the bad and the ugly exist in all of us. But I do believe that women, as all other people, people, all other genders, all other race, all other ethnicity or other classes, have a different perspective of looking at any issue. I learned that way, way back from, actually from my childhood in living in war in Iraq. The TV stations, the news was talking about how the men were fighting the war and all of that. Very similar to the news today, very similar. It's just, just the countries are different. And as a child, I stand in front of TV and I remember, but no one is talking, that all the people in my life running the show in my life are actually women. The teachers, the, the doctors, the policewomen, the factory workers, the factory own, everyone running the show. If we talked about war from a frontline perspective, we still talk about war from a frontline perspective. Women are running the back line and keeping life going in backline. And even though we have records over records over records that actually one woman are part of a peace negotiation, they define peace from a different perspective than only men. They do not see peace as the ending of fighting. They see it as the building of life. They're thinking immediately, electricity, education, economic well being, movement, mobility. They're thinking very practical things. That is beyond the front line. And so we are not included. So for me, I wanted to see, well, what's happening to women now in wars. My training, women. We only talk about women as victims of force, right? Force, migration, refugees, rape, violence, mutilations, all of it. And that is a very true story of what happens to women in war. But like any story, it has a different perspective. Surely women are not just sitting and just like, oh my God, let me just wait to be a bit more victimized by this war. They are running the show in the midst of the war. They're keeping life going and they're getting 10% of every humanitarian dollar I mean 10 cents of every humanitarian dollar that's going to the world, women are getting only 10 cents out of it, right? So applying this logic, I wanted to see show me the money and show me what's happening to women. And that's what we are talking about when it comes to climate change or the planetary health to be more exact, I find it honestly fascinating. First, this is the prominent narrative out there when it comes to the subject, the intersection between our planetary health and its impact on women. It is a very negative trajectory. That is the prominent narrative as it relates to that issue. I find some of this data fascinating. This is real. Femicide increases by 28% during heat waves. Are you kidding me? Seriously? I mean I believe it by the way, right? But like with similar spikes after floods, droughts and displacements, I mean this is what we're talking about. 80% of displaced people, forced displaced people because of my climate change, our women and children. This is a fact documented by the UN. Economic impact is causing 100 million is impacting 100 million women into poverty. Now this is practical. That means because it's impacting daily laborers, it's impacting small scale farmers, it's impacting any job that has long walking and mobilities health and wellness. I honestly, they are now health insurance or rather life insurance in India for women who are being immobilized from heat stroke or from heat waves. I didn't understand that until I got my own heat waves personally as menopausal women and realized okay, this can be demobilizing. And not to make a joke about, but this is like insurance right now for daily laborers because they cannot work when the heat is so much. So, so the impact, and this is just a synopsis of what the. There is a volume of negative data that shows that the impact of the negative impact of women. So sorry, I have to find where I am. So then the question is, so what do you do? Where are the women? And just like in wars, surely the women are not sitting silently and waiting for for all the victimhood to happen, right? So where are they and how do we find them at face value, many said, well, we don't know who they are, who these women are, but all you need to do is activate the mycelium of women's network from around the world and you will find amazing women. We're talking about scientists protecting endangered species, protecting rivers from chemical waste, collecting seeds, etc, etc, etc. When I asked, when I started doing the research, where are the women? Everyone said, well no, we don't know they don't exist. And then I got a wave of only Western women going to different parts of the world, saving species and all of that. I was like, come on. I am sure there are some Asian women or Latin American women or African women, or Surely we have PhD and doctors who are protecting species and seeds and all. What we needed to do, honestly, I mean, this is my world. This is the women's movement world is you pick up the phone and activate the network of women. They are an underground network. I've used them several times, evacuating thousands of Afghan women whose lives were in danger when during the US evacuation withdrawal, rather helping Iranian women in their revolution of 2023. You just activate the women and they find you. And sure enough, we find like this volume of women. We found 800 women led efforts centered in the protection of nature. Now we decided to focus on nature. I want to show you this map because we decided to focus on nature for a variety of reasons. 1 Scientifically, what I just talked about, but we also, we needed to actually focus on what it, you know, to a way to measure the impact and to prove the impact and to measure the dollar and to measure the social economic impact. So we decided to focus on the. What we call, what the scientists call biodiversity hotspots. This is about 1.5% of the Earth. If these are hotspots that has endangered species and species that are very important to protect. If we. It's all, forgive the expression, it's like a silver bullet into some of these interventions. I hate violent words. We're trying to change it, but it is a very focused intervention if you focus on these hotspots. So we, to focus our interventions, we said, let us. Let's just see where are the women leaderships in these hotspots. And that's when the birth of Daughters for Earth came about. So as Naila said, it is a fund and a movement. We said, let's find the women, let's fund them, let's watch their intervention, let's research, let's learn from what they're doing and then see how they guide us in the approach. It was a leap of faith, but not an unfounded leap of faith. I mean, we have so much. Naila, your research shows so much of the. We have so much data about women's interventions in different sectors, development sectors, economic sectors. So it's not just in this sector. It was not founded yet. Right. So three years we found these women led. Women led effort doesn't mean exclusively women. It's just Women led efforts. The only thing they have in common, that they are focused on nature and biodiverse hotspots and they are women led. And we put about $5 million in 229 women, some of them one year grant only and some of them multi year grants. And we watched and we looked and this is what we came. So after three years we said, let us study. And we took a sample of 24 women's initiatives in 11 countries. Nala, you asked me what are these countries? Random. Kenya, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Madagascar, United States, Belize, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo all over the world. Again, the only common denominator they have is that they are women led. Nature Focus. Women led Nature Focus. And it was a voluntary study, it was not mandatory. We said, we ask you to volunteer, we'll pay for it and you own the data, we'll teach your staff how to actually collect it. And we want to do quantitative and qualitative research in the process. And this is what we found. First we started saying, let's find the traditional ways of measurements because that's how you give value, that's how the world is valuing right now, you know. So we said, okay, let's, let's just look at what are they doing in habitat spec, vegetation, fresh water and soil recovery, biodiversity recovery, waste and pollution reduction, etc. Etc. And these are again sample of only the introduction of 24 groups. 115,000 hectares being protected. The return of the lion population in Kenya, very exciting because it was actually shrinking. New lemur sighting emerging in Madagascar. Shark species reappearing in Indonesia. Across South America, flamingos, foxes and Indian bears are returning. 77% of them reports the return of wildlife, et cetera. So we start measuring in these traditional measures that all conservation efforts, that's what they measure right now. But surely there's another story. And we wanted to find what other impacts of these women leaderships are having and more importantly, how are they leading in a way that we can actually see what are the differences in their leadership? And that is what we found. They are centering their relationship with nature as they address the socio economic, cultural needs of the communities. And I'm going to start giving you tangible examples. Their first interventions is economic intervention. Well, first intervention, they all talk about listening because some of them are from within the community, community as some indigenous leaders and some of them are outside of the committees, as in lion experts who are just wanting to protect the lions. The first act that is common in all of them is that they stand and listen and gain community trust because they are listening, not preaching. I find it very important lesson to be honest because there is something about even the terminologies that we are using in addressing the planetary health, climate change, all of that. And the way we are talking about it is I come from Iraq, a country that really has been, it's on their knees. I just came back from the country, it's on its knees in poverty and pillage and it's just, it got destroyed. So there's always a sensitivity about colonial wording all extreme sensitivity. Anything that comes out of a western centric approach is being people like me. So when I go to Iraq and I say I'm here working on climate, it's like, we don't believe this, this is a bullshit. And then I start say, talking about sandstorms are increasing and killing 5,000 Iraqis a day. I grew up with no sandstorms in my Life. The first 20 years of my upbringing in Iraq, they like, yes, palm trees are dying by 90%. Palm trees is our treasure. Yes, camels, which are very hard to die to kill, are dying by a third a percent by, by higher than ever seen before because they're eating plastic bottles of water from the desert. Yes, the tigers and the Euphrates, our beloved Ra rivers are shrinking and shrinking. The scientists think that actually by night, by 2050, we will not have these two rivers. Everyone says yes, because you can walk across them now. And so when you return the story and make it a narrative of ownership of that culture, everyone says yes, this is happening now, that's climate change. And everyone then buys in. And so what these women are doing is listening to the local leaders narrative and the local relationship with the issue. Cristiano Figueroa, the architect of the Paris Agreement, once said, not too far ago, not too long ago, rather says, we have to change how we are addressing the issue because however we did it before is not working now. And we need to adapt and change how we look at the issues. And she's focusing, her work is actually on bringing spirituality in. How we talk to climate about climate issue with climate science, scientists, activists, fossil fuel, everyone, right? So these women are doing it. This woman leadership are doing economic impact. They address, they understand that the economically, the communities are doing things because it's just an extraction relationship. And so let's address the economic needs of the committees and create thereby a shift in the behavior. Two examples I give you out of that one is Winona Leduc, an amazing indigenous woman in the U.S. lives in Minnesota. You all know Minnesota by now from an indigenous community, Anishinaabe nation. High drug issues, depression, obesity, all the social economic issues with a lot of indigenous people have in particularly North America. And she revived hemp agriculture in that community. Hemp is on the margin of. Used to be on the margin of. It's a variation of marijuana plants. And yet she started discovering that hemp. You can make new construction material from hemp. She started building local hemp, building houses in her community. You can make canvas from hemp, tents from hemp, you can make jackets, fabric from hemp. And she start producing that. And suddenly there's a return of the youth. They're riding horses again. They're all. I don't mean. This is her words, not mine, not to stereotype, but they're back into the agriculture in a community that was suffering with all social economic issues. They are returning. There is address, there is hope in here, in the hemp production and the hope that reviving from the local committees. Zulfa, someone we saw in Kenya from mangroves and lives in an island outside of Lamu with mangroves. And she realizes the mangroves are being cut at a very rapid rate. And. And then when you cut the mangroves, which are very important in the ecological system that we have, you actually kill also the fishing system in that area. So she starts advocating mobilizing women. First they start doing mangroves watch watchdog basically to see who's cutting the mangroves. Then they start planting mangroves. Then they got the men to work on the mangrove and that the whole transformation of a community. Now I make more money protecting the mangroves than cutting the mangroves. So they always address very tangible economic needs. Then they go into weaving old knowledge with new technologies. Right. Parweeza Farhan from Indonesia. Conservationists talk about forest protections. She's a big advocate for the against deforestation. She goes to a local community in the forest in Indonesia, Muslim community, very conservative, known as being ruled by Sharia, whatever Sharia law traditionally not legally. So she goes to the women and she starts talking to them about nature. And these are older women. And sure enough, within the narrative of Islam, there's actually a beautiful relationship with nature. And it is actually about honoring nature, protecting nature. This is part of God's miracle is nature. And so she sees that these traditional women who otherwise she judge as being as living under Sharia law to actually have passion about the protection of nature. And so with that she equipped them with new technologies that is about measuring the forest and about measuring the species and all of that with Their own narrative that they are actually part of the protection of nature. And thousands, thousands of hectares in the forest are protected by her. She's a public figure. You can also understand her work better. Collaborative leadership. Amazing, right? Uru. Uru. In Peru, a group of women who. It's a group of women and men, actually indigenous people. There was chemical waste in their water that was killing them. So the men wanted to like go and fight. And the woman said, just give us a chance to do it in a different way, to actually work with the government so they can collaborate with us rather than kill us. And then they found a way to advocate with the government. Soft politics, I would say, soft diplomacy. And suddenly the government comes along with them and changed the law about waste dumping in the, in the. That river that was killing them. And then they start planting local plots, plants that actually cleansed the river. A group of Ecuadorian women, again, the men wanted to fight with the fossil fuel company and they were sending soldiers. The woman said, just give us a chance. Went in the middle of the night, saw soldiers sleeping with their arms and with their outfits, stripped them naked as they were asleep. I've seen pictures of that. Took all their arms, robed them without the soldiers wearing, waking up, I don't know. Only women can do that to a man. I don't know, you know. And then they took pictures of them and sent it to the local government and said, you want us to publish this or you want us to negotiate? And they negotiated. So what we're seeing is an exciting thing where is. They're building trust, they're building collaboration, they're shifting. My favorite story. Story is actually a Waso alliance in, In Kenya. The men used to. A lot of the human wildlife conflict is about very basic human emotions that doesn't apply to the wildlife. Right. They kill the alliance because the lion attacked my cow. So I have to find that lion and kill the lion who killed my cow. The lion doesn't understand this is your cow. Now just see a cow with a. With a bell on it, right? But you cannot eradicate the lions because that impacts the whole ecosystem and it's not good for us. And so this way long in that particular tribe that there's actually once they honor the lions and then these women found a way, Shivani is her name, found a way to actually shift the narrative from the. From killing the lion to protecting the lion. There's more honor, more prestige if you actually name a lion after your name and thus changing the behavior practice of the community from killing to Protecting perhaps my favorite is the gender norms, is how it's changing gender norms. And I will end with almost at the end in here is the pangolin project. Now, pangolins are an endangered species. It's the unseen. They only appear at night. They eat swarms. It's very hard to track them. And the two founders of the pangolin project to protect the pangolins happen to be two women. Now I love them, I love all these women. And I was talking with them and they're like, we just care about pangolins. We're not a feminist groups or anything like that. We really just care about pangolins because they're very important in the ecosystems. But in the process of penguins, you have to work with communities to help us track them, to help us find them, to help all of that. And you have to train communities of how do they, you know, whatever, where do you put the wires to protect you from elephants and all of these things. And you have to get concessions of land from communities. In that negotiations, there's a lot of money being exchanged, but the negotiations happens from the organization to the community. And that committee means men. And a lot of money is being exchanged. So they were talking and I was in that interview and they were like, we didn't do it because for anything. We just made sure that the women need to understand what money is being exchanged. So they created a three days workshop for the women of the communities, the wives and the daughters and the sisters. And everyone saying there's a money being exchanged. This is how much money this is your rights. Because you actually are also the owners of this land. Land. And we just need to let you know that. And suddenly women are like rolling up their sleeves saying I want my rights. They get it. And then you just, you change new norms. You change new norms. Awaso alliance, another group who protects alliance in, in Kenya, the woman Maasai woman said, I want to be able to drive. Why are you treating me like I cannot drive or I cannot do this? And you have actually first one woman driver in MSI community altogether who's driving. As they are looking at protection supply. You have stories and stories of stories that is actually showing us a new transformation. In many ways I find it these women in being ignored, underfunded. 0.2% of all funding goes to women. 0.2 excluded from decision making tables. They are not being incorporated of how we go about the planetary crisis. They have become the wayfinders of not one way, but many ways, many ways to address with our planetary Health and one that reconciles human well being with ecological health. Just as we published this report, last December, the UN published this program, which is this report which is basically arguing that we need a new way of addressing the planetary crisis, one that is not only technologically based. Now 98% of all funding goes to technology so crazy that we are talking millions of dollars going to building a shield around the earth called bo Bioengineering. Right? A shield around the earth that would deflect the sun, the heat from the Earth. It is cheaper and easier and faster of just protecting nature and have nature do its work of deflecting the heat. Cheaper and easier and faster. Not to go to war and keep the soil healthy, but it requires us to shift. And that report talks about that. Actually, the way we need to address the planetary health needs, needs behavior change. Not only technological change, which has been the entire focus of our solutions so far. Now, behavior change does not only meet individuals or communities, it also really entails companies and the private sector, which I started by talking about how much they take resources from the earth without paying back and without that consciousness of paying back. We are still in a fight about fossil fuel. The government of Ecuador is still giving concessions to fossil fuel companies in indigenous land in the Amazon. I mean today, today, not yesterday, not 10 years ago. That like the debate is still a debate. Well, it doesn't need to be a debate because it's, it's just scientifically a fact. So where do we end? My speech includes the word 2030. And 2030 is an important year. It's a year where all the world agreements are coming together. SDGs, biodiversity agreements, climate agreements, everyone, all coming, the oceans, the land, everything is coming together in 2030. The reason I'm excited it about our finding is we found a thread, a golden thread for the first time of a positive narrative, not only about women's leaderships in addressing the planetary health crisis, but. But a way or ways, ways finder, right in looking at it as an integrative medicine, as a holistic medicine, rather than a separate medicine. I started my talk talking about my illness. The doctor who ended up treating me for months. I was being schlepped to the best doctors, but all experts in their fields and all refuse to talk to each other because my heart is my heart and my lung is my lung. And go and eat whatever you want to eat. And the doctor that really healed me was an integrative doctor that used to traditional western medicine, with traditional Chinese medicine, with Ayurvedic medicine, and Lord and behold, within weeks of going to him, I was healed, truly changing my food, my diet, my, my well being, my. Of course, and there's some medication up in the process. That is what we need is integrative medicine. And we have from now until four years, four years in my opinion. Opinion. As we are all gearing up to revisit these agreements that we have all been, that we have articulated and we're fighting to like get it done, we will not be able to accomplish it. But as we look into revisiting these agreements and how we look into addressing the new reality of our humanity, I believe women may be the wayfinders because there's an aspect of what they're doing is even a spiritual relationship to Earth, a loving relationship to Earth, changing the relationship of the communities from that of extraction of fear to that of reverence and respect. So I end with Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Laureate. This is her 20th anniversary. Exactly. We may need some positive story of Nobel laureates. She talks about, talked, you know, is no longer with us. She talked about the hummingbird effect in which at Daughters for Earth we honor her. So it's a story, it's an African fable. But apparently this fable exists in different variations in different cultures about a forest fire. And all the animals panic and they all run away worried about their homes and, and their well being and all of that. Then there is a tiny hummingbird. She runs to the local river, take a small drop of water and runs to the fire and rush to the fire rather, and drop it on top of the fire and keeps on going back and forth, back and forth between the river and the fire, the river and the fire. And all the animals mock her. You're too small, your beak is too small, your drop of water is too small. And she looked at them and she said, rather than mock me, join me and do what you can to turn off the fire. And so we call it the hummingbird effect in honor of Whangari Maathai, who asked for us to plant trees, basically. So it is a world of unraveling, it is even a world of worrisome states. But look for the point of opportunities and look for the points of hope. And though the study shows us something exciting, I hope it is the beginning. That's what I'm hoping, that we continue the study, deconstruct the aspect of it, the economic impact, the social impact, the kind impact, the well being. Actually, I want to even deconstruct the spiritual impact because the Earth does have a song. I believe. And I think we can all hear it, but we have to also activate other points of knowledge in us to hear the Earth song. Thank you.
- [51:19]
B
So. Thank you very much then. Very. Before I open up to questions, I was remembering something. I was on the board of Women for Women International for a while, and we did a survey in Afghanistan after the first Taliban people left. And we found that when we talked to men and women, women seem to be much more hopeful about the future than men. And we were very puzzled because women had had a very raw deal both when the under the Taliban and after they left. And I think we decided that it was because despair is a luxury for people who have to put food on the table every day, who have to make sure there's a better world for their children. They cannot afford to despair. And we are now in danger of walking with our eyes wide open into a planetary extinction. And I think with Zenman, we can't all grapple with the science and the technology. And that of course, the integrative model says there's room for science and technology. But I think what Zainab is offering is what I think of as a less gloomy environmentalism, an environmentalism that focuses on everyday life. You know that statistic about if you hear birds sing, you're happier? Well, if you go to an art museum, you're happier. There are all these things around us that could make us happier if we only learned to change the values of what we think matters and stop counting as you were doing earlier. So I'd like to open up to all of you. We'll take a couple of questions from the floor and then Tim will take some from online, if there are any. Okay, so. And the mic will come to you. Please tell us who you are when you ask your questions. There's a hand over there.
- [53:06]
A
Hi. I'm interrupting this event to tell you about another awesome LSE podcast that we think you'd enjoy. LSEIQ asks social scientists and other experts to answer one intelligent question, like why.
- [53:20]
B
Do people believe in conspiracy theories?
- [53:22]
A
Or can we afford the super rich? Come check us out. Just search for lseiq wherever you get your podcasts. Now back to the event. Hi, I'm Thea. I'm a sixth form student and I was wondering, obviously I found your talk incredibly important and pertinent, obviously for younger people, they tend to sort of care more about climate change because it's really impacting their future. And younger people tend to be more left leaning anyway. But how do you encourage sort of older people, especially Older people in power like Trump to care about, to care about climate, climate change, even when it may not affect them, except for just reminding them of the impact on their children and their grandchildren.
- [54:04]
B
Thank you. Thank you very much. And.
- [54:08]
A
Should I. Should we think.
- [54:10]
B
Go ahead and answer and then we'll take a couple more. Go ahead. It's a difficult question.
- [54:20]
A
Well, I don't think you can. I don't think you should. That's what I'm saying. European leaders right now, I wish them really luck in being the pathfinders to deal with Trump. But I'm not gonna focus on spending energy on that. We need to like their actions right now. So we don't necessarily. There are people who should focus on policies and looking at it. But the planetary health is right now is happening right now. And these communities on the front lines particularly are facing it also right now. And so we should. It's like this is when we all are. We have to unite and spread the love. I am trying to change it from divide and conquer is unite in love and spread the love. Right. So we have to also be tangible in our actions right now. Can we wait for superpowers to change? I don't. We can't. We can't afford it. Also right. When the truth comes out, it will. But we have to look at what are the points of changes and how do we cultivate these changes. And there's an institute called the Biomimicry Institute. It studies nature and nature's behavior and try to help us apply the nature's behavior in designs of buildings, in behavior to itself with each other on how we can apply it to learn to ourselves humans. Right. So it's fascinating for me it's just like you can get lost in the beauty. For example trees as an example. Strong trees always make sure to feed the weak trees because it's in their interest to keep the entire tree system alive. We don't do that as humans or not always. Sometimes we do. Right. So but the Biomaker Institute shows a story about when they is when you see a picture of a landscape that has just been burnt, let's say a forest that has been burnt and it's really disappearance. Very sad the way this gets repopulated. You know one feature years later they show you this is what happened after that. And it's all green. It's beautiful. It's because it's a small pocket, very small of land starts regenerating itself. Right. Just moss is a good example. Just start regenerating itself. On dead. On dead Trees on dead soil on dead everything, right? And then they become the small greeneries. And then the birds starts pollinating and connecting the dots between these small greeneries. And so that's how actually these small greeneries becomes bigger and bigger and bigger. And five years later, or whatever years later, we see this burned forest now is green. Right now. I think we need to look at these spots. Where are they? Because it's burning. The system as we know it is strong, shifting radically. And my empathy and my heart goes for those who are in the system trying to hold it, really like you do not want this job right now. It's just. So as they're trying to do that, we need to also look at where these pockets of greeneries and how do we pollinate them and how do we help them expand as the people who are pathfinders trying to find another path, we also need to invest in the wayfinders. That's what I'm trying, the underpinning of this story, what I'm trying to say is find them and invest in them because they actually can rehelp us, repopulate that burning time that we are living in. I've got a couple of hands there.
- [58:05]
B
The one on the right and then any one of those.
- [58:12]
A
Hi, I was wondering whether you see any opportunities in the increase in defense, like global defence spending and the kind of need to frame everything now is like matters of national security, whether there are any opportunities there in terms of global development and nature policy. If you've seen it in your networks at all, that framing things like food security or nature and biodiversity as matters of national security helps people and helps groups to get funding at all.
- [58:44]
B
And then there's a few more over there at the back and then we'll take. Is there anyone online? Okay.
- [58:53]
A
Hi, my name is Eleanor. My question is around the funding gaps that you highlighted. You said 0.2% of the funding goes to women. I was wondering if in the examples that you put funding into, whether you saw models where that funding could be made sustainable or if there were ways that there were models that you observed which could make it less funding but more kind of regenerative in terms of the funding.
- [59:21]
B
Okay, we'll take one more. Was there a third hand at the back? Yeah.
- [59:26]
A
Hi, my name is Naja, I work at Carbon as we invest in climate carbon removal solutions. So a lot of what you're talking about is quite familiar, but I just have quite a practical question. You said you raised 5 million for the daughters of the Earth and I was just Wondering from your experience what were some of the most convincing points in raising that capital? What convinced people to get over the line? I'm assuming now as you raise in the future probably be easier with the stats that you've received.
- [59:54]
B
Could you have right next to you.
- [59:58]
A
Thank you so much for that inspiring presentation. My name is Mark. I'm a student at ucl. I think we're living in a very interesting generation where young people are really in the front line of holding people in power accountable. But at the same time I'd like to bring up a different narrative wherein.
- [60:15]
B
Speaking truth to power, especially for countries.
- [60:17]
A
Like the Philippines where I'm coming from.
- [60:19]
B
Where one of the worst countries, countries for environmental defenders to live in because.
- [60:24]
A
We are being killed.
- [60:26]
B
So I would like to ask how.
- [60:28]
A
Would you encourage for young men and.
- [60:30]
B
Women to speak truth to power when there are risks associated with, you know, with it.
- [60:36]
A
Thank you.
- [60:36]
B
Thank you. Do you want to take those?
- [60:42]
A
Okay. Opportunity in increase. Increase in defense funding. I'm the wrong person to ask that question because I'm really as someone who grew up in war, lived in wars, wars defined 30 years of my life. I'm vehemently against wars like to the core of my bone. It doesn't work. I just don't believe they work. They've always create more damage than they create any benefit. So I cannot see any. I actually get scared to see the increase in defense funding. It is the opposite of the. Even in our food security, we need each other as the systems of the silo in our economies. All of that is. Doesn't we need each other moving forward. I find China very interesting because China in the meantime is doing a lot of shifts in its economy as America is being busy. And one of the shifts is in shared economy. Increase in shared economy to such a significant degree that people are reporting and studying it. And the shared economy now they're doing it within their country. But ultimately the world community also have to look into ways of more. More opportunities of shared economy. So maybe there's another silver lining of defense funding. I don't know it. I did research about the impact of the weapons manufacturing and I tried my bestest to actually in terms of the soil health as I mentioned. And just to give you one example, I wanted to. I got my way to find a NATO general at NATO to like give me an interview and he said never in writing or an email, only verbally this. I actually think there's a lot of work on here about the impact of weapons on just climate change. Right. Just Just that. So I think there's a lot in here funding gap and how can we make it more sustainable? Great question. When the five governments withdrew their funding to international aid last year, I personally spent about a lot of my time talking to 50 groups, women's groups from all over the world trying to understand, understand that we support, trying to understand their financials, what are they saying and what's the, what's the patterns that are rising. And almost all of them all said 100% of the funding. The biggest, biggest funder is America and we are facing that shifting of funding immediately. So that was a very well like across. Also they all said we do not know the wealthy people in our countries. We go to America to fundraise. We do not know the wealthy people in our countries. We need to meet them and we need to talk with them and we need to have dialogues. Very interesting finding. Perhaps for me the most interesting finding actually was. And I'm trying to find this, it's in my paper but I did not talk about it is a good chunk said we need to be financially sustainable. We cannot depend on an international committee of funding anymore. We need to find a way for international sustainability, for sustainability in our business model. How they do that and what they need to do, they don't know also they have ideas very preliminary. These are non profit, these are conservationists, these are agriculturists, these are animal species specialists. They are like not, you know, they're so they're trying to find ways to look at to how they look in tomorrow. So I think we're in a dangerous time but it also an exciting time because it's a lot of innovation. You know, opportunities brings, I mean crisis brings opportunities. And I come from a culture where the saying sometimes you hate things happening to you but they end up being for your benefit is very much part of our psyche. And so look into how do we become more innovative in sustaining these solutions. I don't have good examples yet, but they are. It's in the work right now of a lot of people thinking actually. But there is one. About 77% of the people we studied improved the economic well being of their communities. And they're looking into sustainability. That's one of the things that I wanted to say. Raising the funding of the 5 millions is an interesting. At the beginning, honestly it was not very hard at all, knock on wood. But last year it became challenging with the withdrawal of the government funding. There was a tremendous pressure on individual philanthropists. So again we're living in the Same hybrid situation of a lot of tension on the source of money and not the source, the lack of money happening right now, right? So everyone is panicking. And the philanthropist that used to get five requests is now getting 50 requests. So there's a lot of tension. But in the meantime, we're having the biggest wealth transfer to women ever in history. It is expensive that women, I think will own $30 trillion by 2030, something like that. I actually don't know the statistics exactly, but huge wealth transfer, not only in making the money, but inheriting the money and getting the money in different ways. So it's also an interesting time to see women's leadership in owning and in managing new sources of wealth that as a group of people we haven't seen before. So it's again, it's a very peculiar time of fear, but also desires to collaborate and saying we want to do it together. And that's predominantly what I hear is saying, I don't want to do anything alone anymore. I want to do it together. And we understand that this is the systems as we know it fall. So let's have an imagination. The world we are living in right now is really a product of our imagination. So let's. Let's own it, because that's a good opportunity here now, Environmental defenders being killed. Thank you for your question on that. You're right, because the wave. We're seeing a wave of increased violence never seen before. It's so concerning for me as someone who've dedicated my life to this issue, that I really am having reckonings saying where we have failed, we have. I think we have failed in our interventions. Because if one year of drop in funding leads to increased violence on environmental defenders, it's not like they are like. Like this is just basic, where they were not touched before, right? We have a problem. It's SOS right now. And so you're absolutely right. This is a fact. We're talking what some of the funding that we are providing is for security. Indigenous people in Ecuador have to, like, they have guards, basically the activists, right? Because the government is targeting them for beating and assassinations and killing just because they are working on the concessions of land to fossil fuel, Amazon land that we all understand, we need it and it's important. This is serious. So this is for me is a personal call, my friend. I can never advise someone to do this or that. But I can tell you, hope always triumph and truth and justice always triumph. It may take a longer time, but man, it is worth living by. So I think this is such an individual to decision. No one can tell someone, go fight the system this especially when there is life and death. But so whether people do it or not, do it, choose to do it now or later, truth always will triumph and love will always triumph over fear. I just came from Iraq, where I grew up in fear. I wrote a book saying how can I describe fear to Americans? Because it's like for me it was a very tangible thing. I'm like touching paper and after 50 years there is love. Love triumphed. So I'm a believer. But whether you choose to fight it or choose your life, that's up to your own tolerance and your own ability of how you want to lead your life with.
- [69:22]
B
We have a question online and any other questions here as well? Okay, just one minute.
- [69:31]
A
Two questions online.
- [69:32]
B
So the first is from Nadia who.
- [69:36]
A
Asks what role do you see mothers.
- [69:38]
B
Taking with regards to climate change?
- [69:41]
A
And the next question is from Clara Marks, who's a fundraiser from Essex. She asks, what have you found the most impactful narratives or strategies for increasing philanthropic investment into nature based solutions? I think increasing philanthropic investments, this is for rmr. That's why we want to do more of these studies. It's not only increasing philanthropic investment is changing policies and narratives because that's where really you can impact some serious amount of money going in interventions. And so data helps stories, helps facts and figures helps. Our new reiteration at Daughters for Earth of this study, of our new thing is actually deconstructing the dollar that is invested. I always think about the dollar. I don't know who did the study. You may know it was a study about in Bangladesh that women, the dollar invested in women, they reuse 90% of it to on their children well being versus the dollar reinvested in a man, he reinvests 40% of it in his children's well being. Now I have to say I was quoting this research because that research changed everything. Suddenly people's like, oh, women are more efficient. Oh, women are more impactful. Like you know, so. So we're trying to get to that data also like deconstruct that impact of the dollar that we're going to. Women led environmental efforts, right? But I was recently giving a speech like actually in December and a man took me on the side and he says, I am one of those men who reinvest 40% on my family. But I have to tell you, I save it for their future. So I wanted to share that continuation is for them also. I'm not, you know, also fake Mothers is an indigenous. All throughout indigenous leadership, there's always saying, make decisions based on seven generations. So it's not the first generation. The second, like always, whatever you make, always look at how your great, great, great grandkids make. That will be impacted. So I think there is. You can't generalize all mothers also. Right. But I think there is some. Something that we can work on. I hesitate generalizing all mothers. This is such a complex. More stories. I can focus on women who are led, who are environmentally leading, environmental organizations, but I think there is always a way to not only mobilize women, mobilize men, mobilize other genders, like by just finding the right way to connect to what appeals to them.
- [72:20]
B
Okay. They weren't a hand at the back there.
- [72:22]
A
Yes.
- [72:23]
B
And one here and one there.
- [72:26]
A
Hi, my name is Francesca and I'm a master's student in environment and Development at lse. And this presentation has been very fascinating. So thank you so much for sharing. My question is. So I've been working in the conservation industry for a few years now, and something that I've been finding very interesting are the critiques with mainstream conservation projects focusing primarily on. On technical metrics and scientific metrics, which overlooks the social and gender dimensions of the conservation impacts that you've discussed and also removes local ownership aspects of these conservation projects that make them so successful. So I wanted to learn more about Daughters for Earth and their process in. When choosing to give grants to these projects on the ground. What is your process in choosing and selecting impact metrics, co designing these impacts, and really ensuring that there is local ownership of these projects that aren't misconstrued by a Western or foreigner lens of what is expected. Because I know there's a lot of ties with that and funding. Thank you.
- [73:27]
B
Okay. And then there was someone here. Oh, yeah, there. Over here. Hello.
- [73:38]
A
Hello.
- [73:38]
B
My name is Hazel. There's someone here than you. Okay, go ahead.
- [73:44]
A
Thank you for such an interesting.
- [73:47]
B
Hold on.
- [73:48]
A
Sorry. I'm working as a planning officer in a local authority, but I'm really interested in working in philanthropy, particularly for helping women and girls. And I wondered if you had any advice on how to. How to get there. The. Because it seems very difficult, especially in the current job market. But I want to do something that I feel really passionate about. And I wake up every day thinking, you know, I get to do this. And the only thing that really makes me feel like that is helping others, particularly other women. So I wondered if you had any advice on that.
- [74:18]
B
Thank you. Thank you. And Then over there.
- [74:22]
A
Hi, my name is Hazel and I'm.
- [74:24]
B
A policy advisor for defra. My question is, what do you think can be done within the multilateral system that can create more space for women to make sure that that locally led action that is being seen on the ground can give evidence for what needs to be done on a global level?
- [74:45]
A
All right, so I love the question about money is an interesting issue because it really feels great to give it. You know, you. There is a power dynamics in the aspect of it. Even with your best intention, it feels great, Right? But then there's also. You have to catch yourself in the humility about it that you do not know all the nuances of it. And I have to be very transparent. The first year when we started Daughters for Earth, we said, okay, let's find the money and let's find the money. We found it. You know, that was almost the easiest way, the fast first step. And I was like, let's give the money. And then again we decided to focus it on the biodiverse regions and all of that. And then very shortly I was like, well, who are we to give? I mean, we are not living breathing in these issues in these communities. Even I, a product of war in Iraq and experience who am I to make such decisions that are really nuanced decisions and that there is no way with the best of intention we can actually capture it living somewhere else, right? So the first year we did it and it was you get access to this, how great you feel like, wow, you know, it is. But then you have to have the humility of understanding. I do not know what is happening nuances on the, on the field level, basically. And very quickly we corrected ourselves and we created what's called the Wise Daughters Council and we published a report actually on the journey because we said, let's find women led leaders, women leaders who are living breathing this issue at the community level. Some of them are indigenous, some of them are scientists, some of them are conservationists, some of them are agriculturists and love them. Tell us, how do we give this money and to whom? Right now we are getting the nominations from all the global network of women. We're applying it to the biodiverse hotspot. We are vetting and ensuring everyone is legit. But who gets what and how much and why? It's a very random process. So we gave it to the Wife's Daughters Council, nine women, right? And we gave them. The first year we gave give them a million dollars and we nominations of about 70 and we said, you make the decisions. You have this much money. This is the range, this is the criteria. You help us make the decision. We don't know. It was a fascinating story because they did not believe we are authentic. They said they're going to use us. You know, just women of color being stamped, you know, just like, oh, wait. And then they didn't. And our team also didn't believe that they can handle such decision. It was the most fascinating experience. How do you actually shift the power dynamics, you know, and return the decision making to the ground and then you become the observer rather than the decider. And it was fascinating experience for both teams. So much so, the first meeting happened. It was amazing. I opened it with a poem and a prayer and I said, I'm gonna disappear from the zoom. I just have the I ask for your permission to be listening, to learn. And they were discussing nuances. No way, no way in hell that I could or any of my best wonderful team would have captured tribal nuances, money nuances, politics, nuances. They knew what was going on in the regions in a way. There's no way we could know it. And then they made the best allocations. The next day we had a, we did a report on it. As I said, they texted each other, they said, we bet you they're not going to listen to us. And then when the, when they, when the results came and we listened to them by the words, by the penny, they realized this is like, we also had issues with trusting the outsiders. My team had issues with trusting them and that they realized in the process that, oh, it's not easy to give money, that this is a different journey, a different emotional journey. And so that's how we did it, is we flipped it, actually. And we're continuing to do this process and learning. But also in the meantime, we're having to measure so we can weave the new serve these women. The amazing thing of all the women we support, they do not know each other. They want to meet each other. It's like, what, there's another line conservationist in Indonesia. There is what I, I, I need to learn. They are like, now we're like trying to weave their stories not only in these reports, but also in connecting them with each other. Right. Another mycelium list of women. So that's how we do about the philanthropic efforts. I think that was the question how to get into philanthropy. Keep trying. If you are believing, if you're like I say, always follow your heart. People will feel it. Don't just, just, I I don't mean keep trying, being cynical at all, like show up, give your best, don't be attached to outcome. That's my learning. Show up in every issue, tell your truth, give your best and be open to outcome. And other than that, I really can't give more, but it follow your heart and it will lead you. I have no question about that. Multilateral systems, what's the question on that? How do we impact the multilateral systems? Right? Was that the question? I think we need more data. Honestly, I think, I mean, as sad as this, I mean the story, because the story is not only the data, but we knew we do when we presented these reports. The first most common question is how do you convince men we need more men allies simply because they have more power and more money. Right. So we need more data to, to speak to that way of. I mean, I think we need to also object to the old ways of measuring everything in very particular ways and putting all our decision making on only the data data. Because one of the things that we, the study showed is there's other data points that influence the decisions. So one of the ways that we're trying to do, and this is what I'm hoping to, our collaboration with LSE will do actually, is start producing more and more data of the measurable and the immeasurable stories to try to work with policymakers at the multilateral level from now as we work on articulating what are the post 2030 strategies. Because if we impact the new narrative, and I believe we can, I think these women can impact the new narrative, then we unleash a lot more support than anyone philanthropists or two or ten can do. Right. If we impact these narratives from dialogues from now and data, then we can actually have a new story and we a new pattern and a new fabric, basically. So I don't know if that answers your questions, but we need more data, more positive data.
- [81:55]
B
Okay, well, we'll take one quick one.
- [81:58]
A
Go ahead.
- [82:01]
B
There'S a mic coming.
- [82:04]
A
Hi, first of all, my name is Grace, I'm an LSC student. Your presentation was lovely. It was so interesting to hear about the different projects from the different women. And my question was. So you spoke a lot about money and the ways that you were funding these projects for these, by these women. And my question was, in your experience, what are some of the efforts, aside from just like funding them directly through money that you found have been able to support women like Climate solutions? What are the efforts? None other efforts other than necessarily directly giving them funding, basically, like there's so much. This is them asking. They're burnt out. They need, they need to say one of the support we're providing right now is training in wellness and well being and, you know, all offers. You don't do it, you know, but they are burnt out because they're putting, they're giving all of them basically in the process. We do retreats between now and then and the first day. Everyone cries just because they're tired, you know, because it's like when you are in a leadership position, no one is asking, how are you doing? You just, you know, they do want. They're talking a lot about. This is very important. All for them. Continuity beyond one leadership. It's a major result actually of the report is continuity that it's. And that they are doing it right. You know, not only in how they're doing the work, but also in how they're training other leaders around them. So this is extremely important. And then they do want to learn from each other, really. And some of it is very practical. They do want to meet each other. We, we have a sub fund only supporting women scientists because funding to science have cut significantly also the last year. And these amazing scientists who are studying the glaciers and studying, you know, different. The gorillas. Fantastic. Right? We went to the female scientists. Exactly the same story of conservationists underfunded, do not know each other. We're trying to have them meet other female scientists, scientists that we are supporting. Did you know this woman? Oh, my God. I did not know. You know, so it's a. They're isolated. In other words, they're underfunded. They're passionate, they're doing the right work, but they need support in more holistic intervention than just money. And, and we're trying to do that. But not only us, we. This is a collaboration with many. Yeah.
- [84:41]
B
Okay, so we've come to the end of our session with Zainab. Thank you enormously, Zedup. It's been a real inspiring hour and a half for us. And I have two requests of the audience. One is Zainab talks about a transformational global climate solution by 2030. So that's not going to work if we keep all this to ourselves. So I think all of you are a of part, part of the effort to disseminate that there are alternative worlds possible and that we are. Somebody talked about persuading Trump. Frankly, I think that's a waste of time. And I think this idea of relying on, you know, in development studies, we talk about changing political will. I think we have to build a popular will. We have to really go horizontal and build, you know, work with each other, because this is a message of. That has to resonate and be heard. And that's the way I think political.
- [85:38]
A
Will can be changed.
- [85:40]
B
My second request is for you to stay sitting because a couple of us are going to have to make an exit. So before all of you leave, do you mind just sitting and I'm going to take Z away and a couple of other people, and then I think we should just give her a. A round of applause.
- [86:09]
A
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