Zainab Salbi's TIME100 Impact Awards Acceptance Speech

TIME

Watch TIME100 Impact Awards honoree Zainab Salbi's acceptance speech in Singapore.

Transcript

00:00 I want to start by thanking the people of Singapore for their gracious hospitality.

00:05 It's my first time to be here and I have been so inspired by all that you have accomplished

00:11 and built.

00:12 So thank you.

00:13 Thank you so, so much to you.

00:17 I also want to congratulate all my fellow recipients.

00:21 You are a beacon of light.

00:23 I am in awe of your beauty that you bring into the world by just being you.

00:29 That I am next to you, I am grateful for that.

00:31 So thank you and congratulations to you.

00:35 Thanks of course to Time Magazine for bestowing this honor on me.

00:39 My family in Iraq are very, very happy.

00:42 You proved them that their investment in me went worthwhile.

00:46 And frankly, as you mentioned earlier, my home country faced so much destruction and

00:52 suffering.

00:53 And we lost everything in the war.

00:56 And so small good news makes my father extremely happy.

01:00 So thank you very, very much.

01:05 This award really belongs to all the women out there who helped me become who I am and

01:11 who keeps going and help me keep to go in my own journey.

01:16 They relentlessly keep life going in the midst of wars.

01:20 And they are now working relentlessly to protect rivers and forests and wild animals and wild

01:28 plants, which are the most important things to mitigate climate change and the further

01:34 loss of biodiversity.

01:36 We have talked a lot about technology today, which is indeed extremely, extremely important

01:42 in addressing climate change.

01:44 But let us not forget that nature-based solutions in terms of protecting lands and water and

01:51 all the animals in it is actually the number one most important solutions for climate change.

01:57 The number one nature-based solutions.

02:00 And that is where women take a huge role in that.

02:04 Now I've been working on women's rights in the last three decades, as mentioned earlier

02:09 in my work with women, women's rights and freedom, I want to say, and including my own

02:14 freedom.

02:16 That started with my work in war zones with Women for Women International for 20 years,

02:20 then reporting on women on the world from a woman's perspective, and now with Daughters

02:24 for Earth that aims at finding, funding, celebrating, and mobilizing all women to be part of climate

02:29 actions.

02:31 And one of the things that I have come to learn, that women do not need to be empowered.

02:38 They are in their power.

02:42 Believe me that they are keeping life going in the midst of all challenges and despite

02:47 of their circumstances, I am in awe of them, of the power of women.

02:52 What they need is for their power to be reinforced, to be celebrated, to be included in the decision

02:59 making tables, and in the solutions, and frankly, to be financed.

03:05 Women still get the minority of all financial supports, from the humanitarian world where

03:10 women get 10 cents out of every dollar, to the climate world, environmental world, where

03:14 women get two cents out of every dollar that goes to environmental issues.

03:18 So I do believe in the power of money and women do need to be more enforced in all ways

03:23 possible.

03:24 If anything, I'm sorry, beyond all of that though, humanity can no longer afford to address

03:34 the most existential crisis facing us today, and that is the health of our earth.

03:42 For our own existence and for the existence of our future generations, without the full

03:48 inclusion of women in decision making, in the implementation of all solutions, and in

03:56 all ways that we actually have to do to address these issues.

03:59 This is, at this point, this is no longer a principled necessity.

04:04 It is not about equality and justice only.

04:07 It is actually a practical need for us to survive for all our futures.

04:12 In the country, this country, that has demonstrated the power of unity and diversity in the most

04:19 beautiful and inspiring way, I appeal for all to stand in unity, not only between races,

04:27 classes, and nationalities, not only between sexes and genders, but in unity as humans,

04:35 that this is the only way, the only way where we can properly address climate change and

04:41 change our relationship with nature, with earth, with a more respectful and honoring

04:48 one.

04:49 The world needs our daughters, needs our mothers, and our sisters to be part of the journey

04:55 for their power to be heard and celebrated.

05:00 That I play a humble role in that, I am extremely grateful for.

05:08 Thank you so, so much.

05:10 [APPLAUSE]

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