Nia Tero, a Seattle-based foundation focused on securing Indigenous guardianship of vital ecosystems, in partnership with design lab Amplifier, is launching the THRIVING PEOPLES. THRIVING PLACES. media campaign in honor of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
The campaign, illustrated by Tracie Ching, uplifts nine Indigenous leaders from locales spanning from the Philippines and New Zealand to the Amazon and the Arctic:
Deb Abrahamson (Spokane Tribe), environmental defender and water protector
Twa-le Abrahamson-Swan (Spokane Tribe), environmental activist and executive director, the River Warrior Society
Nara Baré (Baré), the first Brazilian woman to assume the general coordination of the largest Indigenous organization in the country, the Coalition of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB)
Sônia Guajajara (Guajajara), leader of Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil)
Pania Newton (Ngapuhi, Te Rarawa, Waikato, Ngati Mahuta), lawyer and Māori land rights activist who organized Save Our Unique Landscape (SOUL) to protest the development of land at Ihumātao
Gunn-Britt Retter (Saami), current Head of Arctic and Environmental Unit for the Saami Council
Marjorie Kunaq Tahbone (Inupiaq, Kiowa), an environmental advocate whose artistic work focuses on revitalizing ancient skills
Vicky Tauli-Corpuz (Kankanaey Igorot), an activist who helped organize the 1970s Igorot student movement in Manila and actively participated in the drafting, negotiations, and adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Célia Xakriabá (Xakriabá), who is leading a new generation of female Indigenous leaders in the battle against the destruction of Brazil’s forests
The campaign will be released as a timely reflection and embodiment of the focus of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), being held in Glasgow on October 31 – November 12, 2021, as global leadership comes together with the purpose of collectively tackling climate change.
“The world has a lot to gain from Indigenous guardianship. Protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples is a key solution to the climate crisis,” said Vicky Tauli-Corpuz (Kankanaey Igorot), Chair of the Board of Directors at Nia Tero.
