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