Ahead of International Women’s Day, the Global Landscapes Forum highlights women driving change from the Andes to Indonesia – from Indigenous leaders, policymakers and financial experts to artists, digital anthropologists and footballers
Ahead of International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8, 2026, the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), a knowledge-led platform and community on sustainable landscapes, has unveiled its seventh list representing the tenacity and diversity of women from Africa, Latin America and Asia.
In 2026, the GLF highlights women with passion and purpose who are speaking out and instilling action in a world where funding cuts threaten the availability of gender data for policymaking.
Women’s perspectives are generally missing from national climate plans, despite the greater risks women would face in a more severe climate crisis scenario, as reported in UN Women’s latest gender snapshot.
The 8 Women with a New Vision for Earth 2026
- Alessandra Yupanqui, co-founder and editorial director of Sapiens.lat, is an Indigenous Andean storyteller from Peru who was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for social impact in 2025. She combines storytelling and journalism to speak out on sustainability and solutions with an Indigenous focus, questioning the status quo on progress and pointing to how humans must understand – and act accordingly – that humanity is part of a web of life, not its owners.
- Asisat Oshoala, footballer with Al Hilal, is one of Africa’s most decorated women footballers, as well as a philanthropist and climate advocate. She began making history playing in her native country, Nigeria, then in England, China, Spain, the United States and now Saudi Arabia. Through her foundation, the Asisat Oshoala Academy, girls across Africa are breaking barriers and encouraged to become visionary leaders while playing football and taking vocational courses in areas such as digital literacy.
- Billie Eilish, singer-songwriter from the United States, is an award-winning musician with a global reach who recently received an Environmental Justice Award. Using her platform, she advocates for climate action and environmental and social justice by challenging wealthy and influential people to act for the planet and using her most recent tour to raise environmental awareness and fundraise for climate causes.
- Francia Márquez Mina, Vice President of Colombia, is a lawyer and social and environmental leader who has advocated for the rights of women, Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombians since her early years. Winner of a Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018, her leadership is rooted in courage and care. She has stood against illegal gold mining while encouraging collective action at national and international levels.
- Kristel C. Quierrez, 2025 GLF Mountain Restoration Steward and co-founder of UGBON – the first Indigenous youth organization in her landscape in the Philippines – is a teacher and Indigenous leader. She defends the ancestral land of the Dumagat-Remontado people and advocates for Indigenous rights while encouraging youth to protect the Southern Sierra Madre, the country’s longest mountain range.
- Payal Arora, Professor at Utrecht University and founder of the Inclusive AI Lab, is a digital anthropologist and award-winning Indian author who was listed among the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics 2025. Her work centers on inclusion and equity, as she lifts the voices of often overlooked communities in the Global South and recognizes these regions as home to vibrant and innovative youth set to shape the future.
- Retno Marsudi, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Water, served as the first female Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. While advancing the UN’s water and sanitation agenda, she advocates for women and girls who are disproportionately affected by water-related challenges, as well as for climate action, inclusive approaches, global solidarity and the transformative role of technology.
- Tariye Gbadegesin, CEO of the Climate Investment Funds, is a member of the leadership councils of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and the Industrial Transition Accelerator’s Mission Possible Partnership. A citizen of Nigeria and the United States, she learned firsthand how degraded wetlands and severe floods affect communities while growing up in the Niger Delta. Her work in finance taught her the power of investment to shift economies and how lasting change is built from the ground up.
Alessandra Yupanqui said: “Indigenous Peoples must be recognized as strategic partners and co-authors of solutions, not as beneficiaries. Real cooperation is built horizontally and over the long term, transferring resources, information, legitimacy, governance and decision-making spaces. In this, we need each other.”
Kristel C. Quierrez: “I want the world we live in to have unity between people and nature, with respect and balance. I want it to be treated as a living home; not to be owned, but to be cared for. As our ancestors taught us: the land, water, forests, and mountains are not just natural resources but sacred parts of our identity.”
Payal Arora: “My vision for Earth is one where justice for people and justice for the planet are inseparable. By centering historically excluded ways of knowing and living, we can move beyond narrow Western binaries of market growth versus environmental cost – and imagine futures grounded in care, continuity, and collective survival.”
Retno Marsudi: “I envision a world that puts water and women agendas at the center of policy, programs and actions. Because empowering women accelerates water solutions, and building water resilience and sustainability protects the planet.”
Tariye Gbadegesin: “I believe in livelihoods rooted in dignity – low‑carbon, resilient and fair. We have the tools to get there: smarter farming, restored ecosystems, clean energy, resilient infrastructure. The challenge now is to act boldly and scale what works.”