Wangari Maathai
by Radiyah Shakur
One of the most important women of the 21st Century,
Wangari Maathai is a true role model who has affected
enormous change through her grassroots initiative.
 By focusing on local problems she saw affecting rural
women in Kenya, combined with vast environmental
degradation, Maathai launched the Greenbelt Movement
(GBM) in 1977. Through the GBM, Wangari Maathai has
helped mostly village women in Kenya plant over 30
million trees on their farms, schools and church
compounds, protecting their environment while simultaneously
gaining paid employment to improve their quality
of life. In 1987, a Pan-African Greenbelt Network
was established, promoting the GBM’s community
empowerment and conservation approach. In 2004, Maathai
became the first woman from Africa to be awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize, ‘’for her contribution
to sustainable development, democracy and peace’’ and
years of work with women to reverse African deforestation.
Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya in 1940.
Credited as the first woman in East and Central Africa
to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai received
undergraduate degrees from Mt St. Scholastica College
in Kansas, USA in 1964 and the University of Pittsburg
in 1966. She spent some time in Germany for her doctoral
studies, and then returned to Kenya to complete her
PhD in Anatomy in 1971 from the University of Nairobi.
Maathai worked as a professor at the same university
and became Chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy
and an associate professor on year later- both accomplishments
were unprecedented achievements for a Kenyan woman.
While active with the National Council of Women from
1976-1987, Maathai was first introduced to the idea
of ordinary people planting trees. She then decided
to further develop the idea and test it as a grassroots
operation, which led to the birth of the Greenbelt
Movement. Maathai was a vocal opponent to the then
governments’ appropriation of land, and as a
result became their adversary.
In December 2002, Wangari Maathai was elected to Parliament,
as Mwai Kibabi defeated Maathai's long-time political
nemesis, Daniel arap Moi who presided over Kenya for
24 years. Kibabi named Maathai as Deputy Minister in
the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and
Wildlife in January, 2003.
To date, initiatives have been successfully launched
in Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia and
Zimbabwe, among others. Prof. Maathai has received
numerous awards honouring her environmental and leadership
achievements. She has also received doctoral degrees
from several institutions around the world.
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