{{Short description|Somali environmentalist, conservationist, humanitarian}} {{Infobox person | name = Fatima Jama Jibrell | native_name = Fadumo Jibriil | native_name_lang = so | image = Fatima Jibrell2.jpg | imagesize = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|12|30|mf=yes}} | birth_place = Sanaag, Somalia | occupation = Environmental activist, filmmaker | alma_mater = University of Connecticut, University of the District of Columbia | children = Five daughters, including Degan Ali | awards = Goldman Environmental Prize<br>National Geographic Society/Buffett Award for Leadership <br>Champions of the Earth award<br>Takreem award }}
'''Fatima Jibrell''' ({{langx|so|Fadumo Jibriil}}, {{langx|ar|فاطمة جبريل}}; born December 30, 1947) is a Somali-American environmental activist. She was the co-founder and executive director of the Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization (now Adeso), co-founder of Sun Fire Cooking, and was instrumental in the creation of the Women's Coalition for Peace.
==Biography== Jibrell was born on December 30, 1947, in Sanaag, Somalia to a nomadic family.<ref name="Gilbert">Geoffrey Gilbert, ''World poverty'', (ABC-CLIO: 2004), p.111</ref><ref name=horngoldman>{{cite web|url=http://www.hornrelief.org/goldman-prize-2002.htm|title=Horn Relief:Goldman Prize|publisher=|access-date=31 May 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100712071037/http://www.hornrelief.org/goldman-prize-2002.htm|archive-date=12 July 2010}}</ref> Her father was a merchant marine who settled in New York City. As a child in Somalia, she attended a British boarding school until the age of 16, when she left the country to join her father in the United States. There, Jibrell graduated from Temple High School.<ref name=zooming>Dorothy Otieno [http://www.biyokulule.com/Charcoal%20trade.htm "Environmentalist Who Returned From USA to Salvage Forests"] ''East African Standard'' (June 26, 2002)</ref>
In 1969, she returned to Somalia and worked for the government, whereafter she married her husband, Abdurahman Mohamoud Ali, a diplomat. While she and her family were stationed in Iraq, Jibrell began undergraduate studies at the University of Damascus in nearby Syria. In 1981, her husband was transferred to the U.S., where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in English. She eventually went on to pursue a Master's in Social Work from the University of Connecticut. While living in the U.S., Jibrell and her husband raised five daughters, including Degan Ali.<ref>{{Cite news |author=The Editorial Board |date=2021-02-13 |title=Opinion {{!}} Foreign Aid Is Having a Reckoning |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/opinion/africa-foreign-aid-philanthropy.html |access-date=2022-03-26 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> She also became an American citizen.<ref name="zooming"/>
==Environmentalism== Spurred on by the civil war in Somalia that began in 1991,<ref name=zooming /> Jibrell along with her husband and family friends co-founded the Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization, colloquially referred to as Horn Relief, a non-governmental organization (NGO) for which she served as the executive director. In 2012, Horn Relief officially changed its name to Adeso.<ref name=hornwho>{{cite web |url=http://adesoafrica.org/about-us/history/ |title=History |author=Neo Creative |publisher= |access-date=31 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503165832/http://adesoafrica.org/about-us/history/ |archive-date=3 May 2015 }}</ref> While Jibrell retired as executive director in 2006, she maintains a role on the organization's board of directors and in its Somalia programs.<ref name="Goldman">[http://www.goldmanprize.org/node/113 Fatima Jibrell - Goldman Prize] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511161616/http://www.goldmanprize.org/node/113 |date=May 11, 2011 }}</ref> Adeso describes its mission as grassroots level work aimed at uplifting local communities.<ref name=hornwho/>
Jibrell was instrumental in the creation of the Women's Coalition for Peace to encourage more participation by women in politics and social issues.<ref name=Goldman /><ref>Tekla Szymanski, [http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/597.cfm "Fatima Jibrell: Nursing Nature"], ''World Press Review'' (July 2002)</ref> She also co-founded Sun Fire Cooking, which aims to introduce solar cookers to Somalia so as to reduce the reliance on charcoal as a fuel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tucacas.info/sunfirecooking/SFCnewweb/Aboutus.html|title=Sun Fire Cooking :: About us|publisher=|accessdate=31 May 2015}}</ref>
In 2008, Jibrell wrote and co-produced a short film entitled ''Charcoal Traffic'', which employs a fictional storyline to educate the public about the charcoal crisis.<ref>{{IMDb title|1302554|Charcoal Traffic}}</ref> The film was directed by the filmmaker Nathan Collett.
In 2011, Jibrell along with retired Australian diplomat James Lindsay also published ''Peace and Milk: Scenes of Northern Somalia'', a photography book on Somalia's nomadic countryside and life. The work has received international accolades from environmental organizations, including the Goldman Environmental Foundation and Résistants pour la Terre.<ref name="milkandhoney">{{cite web |url=http://adesoafrica.org/ma-nabad-baa-nabad-iyo-caano-is-there-peace-there-is-peace-and-milk/ |title=Fatima Jibrell and Jim Lindsay's photographic tribute to peace - Adeso |author=Neo Creative |publisher= |access-date=31 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212124057/http://adesoafrica.org/ma-nabad-baa-nabad-iyo-caano-is-there-peace-there-is-peace-and-milk/ |archive-date=12 February 2013 }}</ref>
==Anti-charcoal campaign== Through Horn Relief, Jibrell mounted a successful campaign to salvage old-growth forests of acacia trees in the northeastern part of Somalia.<ref name="Gilbert"/> These trees, which can grow up to 500 years old, were being cut down to make charcoal since this so-called "black gold" is highly in demand in the Arabian Peninsula, where the region's Bedouin tribes believe the acacia to be sacred.<ref name="Gilbert"/><ref name="IWD">{{cite web|url=http://www.unep.org/women_env/w_details.asp?w_id=397|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090804211307/http://www.unep.org/women_env/w_details.asp?w_id=397|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 August 2009|title=International Women's Day - 8 March, 2006|publisher=|access-date=31 May 2015}}</ref>
However, while being a relatively inexpensive fuel that meets a user's needs, the production of charcoal often leads to deforestation and desertification.<ref name="IWD" /> As a way of addressing this problem, Jibrell and Horn Relief trained a group of adolescents to educate the public on the permanent damage that producing charcoal can create.
In 1999, Horn Relief coordinated a peace march in the northeastern Puntland region of Somalia to put an end to the so-called "charcoal wars." As a result of Jibrell's lobbying and education efforts, the Puntland government in 2000 prohibited the exportation of charcoal. The government has also since enforced the ban, which has reportedly led to an 80% drop in exports of the product.<ref name="Goldman" />
==Awards== For her efforts environmental degradation and desertification, Jibrell has received a number of awards. In 2002, she was presented the Goldman Environmental Prize,<ref name="Goldman" /> the most prestigious grassroots environmental award.<ref name=zooming/> In 2008, she also won the National Geographic Society/Buffett Foundation Award for Leadership in Conservation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=AWARDEE {{!}} FATIMA JAMA JIBRELL|url=https://explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org/fatima-jama-jibrell|last=|first=|date=|website=www.nationalgeographic.org|access-date=2020-05-15}}</ref><ref name="NatGeo">{{cite web|url=http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2008/12/conservation-heroes.html|title=Conservation Heroes Honored by National Geographic, Buffett Foundation|author=David Maxwell Braun|publisher=|access-date=31 May 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912034421/http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2008/12/conservation-heroes.html|archive-date=12 September 2009}}</ref>
In 2014 Jibrell received the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Champions of the Earth award for her environmental conservation work.<ref name="Sebua">{{cite news|title=Somalian environmentalist bags UN award|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/sci-tech/somalian-environmentalist-bags-un-award_1495540.html|accessdate=8 November 2014|agency=ZNews|date=7 November 2014}}</ref>
Additionally in 2016 Jibrell received the Takreem Award for Environmental Development and Sustainability.
==Notes== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *[http://www.adesoafrica.org/ Horn Relief (now Adeso) official website] *[http://www.tucacas.info/sunfirecooking/SFCnewweb/index.html Sun Fire Cooking official website] *{{IMDb title|1302554|Charcoal Traffic}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jibrell, Fatima}} Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Ethnic Somali people Category:American people of Somali descent Category:American environmentalists Category:American women environmentalists Category:Somalian environmentalists Category:Somalian women activists Category:Women environmentalists Category:Damascus University alumni Category:University of Connecticut alumni Category:University of the District of Columbia alumni Category:Somalian Muslims Category:African-American Muslims Category:Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Category:21st-century American women