Profile of Dr Wangari Maathai1 October 2004
Wangari Maathai (Image:
© Friends of the Earth)
© Friends of the Earth)
Wangari Maathai has just become the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wangari Maathai - a tree planter turned politician - is as famous in Kenya as Beckham is in the UK.
Since founding the Green Belt Movement (a women's organisation) in 1977 she has helped protect people's access to forests and natural resources and foil attempts to privatise public companies.
Your environment shapes you, even as you shape that environment. Your country is a very important aspect of who you are
Dr Wangari Maathai
As a result of her work - more than 20 million trees have been planted on women's farms, in schools and church grounds.
Culture is a very important aspect of conservation
Dr Wangari Maathai
The Green Belt Movement now has 250,000 participants and has been copied in:
- Ethiopia
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Zimbabwe
Independence story
After independence in 1963 Kenyan politics was dominated by two presidents:
- Jomo Kenyatta and then
- Daniel arap Moi.
Kenya may have avoided outright war, but the country has been blighted by political abuses and back hand dealings that led to its hard-won constitutional freedoms being removed.
Freedom to meet was one of the casualties and as a high profile Green Belt Movement member Wangari had to dodge countless attempts by President Moi to put her in prison.
In Kenya one reason why less industrial peoples haven't yet destroyed their plants and wildlife is that the natural way of life is closely entwined in their lives - and that's their culture. And it's knowledge and wisdom that can be passed to the next generation.
Dr Wangari Maathai
In 1999 she was attacked while planting trees in the Karura Public Forest, Nairobi, during a protest against the capital's green places being built over.
In the resulting trial she challenged Moi's power by imprisoning herself in the city cathedral.
The more industrialised societies become, the more detached from their natural environment and the more they eliminate species.
Dr Wangari Maathai
At the December 2002 elections - which Moi lost - then 62 year old Wangari became an MP.
Kenyan Constitution
She is now playing key role redrafting the Kenyan Constitution.
If the new draft constitution is approved by Kenyan MPs it will:
- Protect habitats and species.
- Ensure local communities benefit from exploitation of natural resources like water.
Wangari is also a patron of Friends of the Earth International.
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