NT-2024-AR - Flipbook - Page 5
INTRODUCTION
Letter from Our CEO
This 2024 annual report presents highlights
of Nia Tero’s work over the past year, a
period that marks my last cycle leading this
organization that I helped found in 2017. I am
very proud of what we have accomplished
over these seven years and especially this
past year. We have built partnerships with
Indigenous Peoples, funders, and other
allies around the world so that Indigenous
territories and cultures can thrive and help
us all dream of a better future.
From the very beginning, when we were
still discussing the structure and operation
of Nia Tero, on a solar eclipse day at a dear
friend’s ranch in Wyoming, I said that I could
be the organization’s first CEO, but that my
term would have a certain end and would be
succeeded by an Indigenous leader. At the
end of November 2024, we announced that
'Aulani Wilhelm was unanimously selected
by our Board of Directors as the new CEO of
Nia Tero, effective January 1, 2025. I could not
be happier with this appointment and I am
certain that 'Aulani is the right person to lead
the organization in the years to come.
Buffalo grazing near Chief Mountain | Blackfoot Confederacy,
North America | Whitney Snow (Blackfoot)
Earn trust. Be honest. Share experiences.
Learn from each other. Reinforce each other.
Stand by each other. Seek new pathways when
the old ones are blocked. Ensure that there
is a connection between local and global.
Forgive each other for inadvertent gaffes.
Learn how to listen to intent.
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Nia Tero
This transition marks an important moment
for Nia Tero. It strengthens the opportunities
ahead for our vision – of Indigenous Peoples’
guardianship to be enabled everywhere
possible on Earth – to be increasingly shared
and valued in different spaces and segments
of society while also influencing important
decisions in the fields of philanthropy
and policy.
In the following pages, you will read about
the work of our team and partners around
the world in support of Indigenous Peoples’
guardianship globally. It is with deep
gratitude that I have the honor of presenting
and sharing this work with you all as we turn
the page on this chapter of Nia Tero.
This moment has arrived, and with it a
myriad of emotions and memories of
everything we have done so far. There is
much to be proud of over the past year
and since our founding; growing from our
first partnerships in the Amazon, Pasifik,
and North America, to our ongoing policy
and advocacy at the United Nations, to
working with donors of various pledges to
strengthen the role of Indigenous Peoples in
the protection of homelands and waters that
are essential to reversing the interconnected
climate and biodiversity crises.
All this work allows me, now, to continue
supporting the organization through my
role on the Board of Directors. I take with
me a deep sense of gratitude to the people
who supported me in growing as a person
and a leader since Nia Tero’s founding.
Thank you all for your years of working
alongside me and the team at Nia Tero in
this deeply important mission, and I look
forward to continuing alongside you all in
this new capacity.
Sincerely,
PETER SELIGMANN
CEO (2017-2024)
Annual Report 2024
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