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Indigenous people: true guardians of land and oceans

Indigenous people: true guardians of land and oceans

If the earth were a company, who'd you pick to run its assets?

For Hindou Ibrahim, co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change, it should be Indigenous people, who have been protecting the land and the oceans far longer than governments. That's what makes them the true guardians of ecosystems.

"We cannot sustain and protect this biodiversity if we do not recognize and respect the rights of indigenous peoples to their land tenure" and access to finance, Ibrahim says in a Global Stage livestream conversation hosted by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft.


Corporations have CEOs. The planet, she adds, should appoint Indigenous peoples as "chief ecological officers" so all "the funding can go to us directly. And we can decide it our way."

Watch the full Global Stage livestream conversation "The Road to 2030: Getting Global Goals Back on Track" .

More from Global Stage

Hacked by Pegasus spyware: The human rights lawyer trying to free a princess

Hacked by Pegasus spyware: The human rights lawyer trying to free a princess

Watch the first episode of “Caught in the Digital Crosshairs: The Human Impact of Cyberattacks,” a new video series on cybersecurity produced by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft. In April 2021, David Haigh, a human rights lawyer who'd been fighting to free Dubai’s detained Princess Latifa, received a shocking notification from investigators at The Guardian and Amnesty International: his phone was likely infected with Pegasus spyware.

AI plus existing technology: A recipe for tackling global crisis

AI plus existing technology: A recipe for tackling global crisis

When a country experiences a natural disaster, satellite technology and artificial intelligence can be used to rapidly gather data on the damage and initiate an effective response, according to Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith during a Global Stage livestream event at UN headquarters in New York on September 22, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

AI at the tipping point: danger to information, promise for creativity

AI at the tipping point: danger to information, promise for creativity

Artificial intelligence is on everyone's mind these days. The potential for AI to mess up democracy is scary, but the truth is that it can also make the world a better place. So, are bots good or bad for us? We asked a few experts to weigh in during the Global Stage livestream conversation "Risks and Rewards of AI," hosted by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft at this year's World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Fighting online hate: Global internet governance through shared values

Fighting online hate: Global internet governance through shared values

After a terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand was live-streamed on the internet in 2019, the Christchurch Call was launched to counter the increasing weaponization of the internet and to ensure that emerging tech is harnessed for good.

How AI can be used in public policy: Anne Witkowsky

How AI can be used in public policy: Anne Witkowsky

There are some pretty sharp people all around the world trying to craft policy, but their best efforts are often limited by poor data. Anne Witkowsky, Assistant Secretary of State at the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, says that’s about to change.

The state of multilateralism: Shaky, fragile & stretched to capacity

The state of multilateralism: Shaky, fragile & stretched to capacity

Dr. Comfort Ero of the International Crisis Group has spent her career tackling the most difficult conflicts in the world, often exacerbated by severe environmental or social disasters. But as the climate crisis and war in Ukraine compound the forces pushing many fragile societies to the brink, she says multilateral institutions like the United Nations are not prepared to meet the challenge.

Digital Equity