Wangari Maathai

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Wangari Muta Maathai ; April 1, 1940 - September 25, 2011) is an internationally renowned environmental politician and recipient of the Nobel Prize. He was educated in the United States on Mount St. Scholastica (Benedictine College) and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

In 1977, Maathai established the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focusing on tree planting, environmental preservation, and women's rights. In 1984, he was awarded the True Livelihood Award, and in 2004, he became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for "his contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." Maathai was an elected MP and served as assistant minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005. He is an Honorary Member of the World Council of the Future. He made many achievements, affiliated with many professional bodies and received several awards. In 2011, Maathai died of complications from ovarian cancer.

Video Wangari Maathai

Early life and education

On April 1, 1940, Maathai was born in Ihithe village, Nyeri District, in the central highlands of the Kenyan colony. His family is Kikuyu, the most populous ethnic group in Kenya, and has lived in the area for generations. Around 1943, the Maathai family moved to a White ranch in the Rift Valley, near the town of Nakuru, where his father found work. In late 1947, he returned to Ihithe with his mother, because his two brothers attended elementary school in the village, and there was no school on the farm where his father worked. Her father remains at the farm. Shortly after, at the age of eight, he joined his brothers at Ihithe Primary School.

At the age of eleven, Maathai moved to St. John's First High School. Cecilia, a boarding school at the Mathari Catholic Mission in Nyeri. Maathai studied at St. Cecilia for four years. During this time, he became fluent in English and turned to Catholicism. He was involved with the Legion of Mary, whose members sought "to serve the Lord by serving others." Study at St. Cecilia, she is protected from the ongoing Mau Mau rebellion, forcing her mother to move from their home to an emergency village in Ihithe. When he completed his studies there in 1956, he was ranked first in his class, and was given admission to the only Catholic high school for girls in Kenya, Loreto High School in Limuru.

When the end of East African colonialism, Kenyan politicians, such as Tom Mboya, proposed ways to make education in Western countries available to promising students. John F. Kennedy, then US Senator, agreed to fund such a program through Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, started what is known as Kennedy Airlift or Airlift Africa. Maathai became one of about 300 Kenyans who were selected to study in the United States in September 1960.

He received a scholarship to study at Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College), in Atchison, Kansas, where he majored in biology, with children in chemistry and Germany. After receiving his bachelor's degree in science in 1964, he studied at the University of Pittsburgh for a master's degree in biology. The graduate studies there were funded by the African-American Institute, and during its time in Pittsburgh, it first experienced environmental restoration, when local environmental activists pushed to get rid of the city's air pollution. In January 1966, Maathai received an MSc degree in biological sciences, and was appointed to a research assistant position for a professor of zoology at the University College of Nairobi.

After returning to Kenya, Maathai dropped his first name, preferring to be known by his birth name, Wangari Muta. When he arrived at the university to begin his new job, he was told that it had been given to someone else. Maathai believes this is due to gender and tribal bias. After looking for a two-month job, Professor Reinhold Hofmann, from the University of Giessen in Germany, offered him a job as a research assistant in the microanatomy department of the newly established Department of Veterinary Anatomy at the School of Veterinary Medicine at University College of Nairobi. In April 1966, he met Mwai Mathai, another Kenyan who had studied in America, who would later become her husband. He also rented a small shop in town, and set up a general store, where his sister worked. In 1967, at the urging of Professor Hofmann, he went to the University of Giessen in Germany to pursue a doctorate. He studied at Giessen and the University of Munich.

In the spring of 1969, he returned to Nairobi to continue his studies at the University College of Nairobi as an assistant professor. In May, she and Mwangi Maathai were married. Later that year, she was pregnant with her first child, and her husband campaigned to sit in Parliament, almost defeated. During the election, Tom Mboya, who had been instrumental in setting up a program that sent him overseas, was murdered. This led to President Kenyatta effectively ending multi-party democracy in Kenya. Shortly after, his first son, Waweru, was born. In 1971, he became the first East African woman to receive a PhD, a doctorate in animal anatomy, from University College of Nairobi, who became the University of Nairobi the following year. He completed his dissertation on the development and differentiation of gonads in bovines. His daughter, Wanjira, was born in December 1971. 1972 1972-1977: _Activism_and_political_life "> 1972-1977: Activism and political life <

Maathai continued to teach in Nairobi, became a senior anatomy lecturer in 1975, chairman of the Anatomy Department of Animals in 1976 and professor in 1977. He was the first woman in Nairobi to be appointed to this position. During this time, he campaigned for the same benefits for women working in university staff, as far as trying to convert university academic staff associations into unions, to negotiate for the benefit. The court rejected this offer, but many of his demands for the same benefits were then met. In addition to his work at the University of Nairobi, Maathai was involved in a number of civil organizations in the early 1970s. She is a member of the Nairobi branch of the Kenyan Red Cross, becoming its director in 1973. She is a member of the Kenya University Women's Association. After the establishment of the Environmental Liaison Center in 1974, Maathai was asked to become a member of the local council, which eventually became chairman of the council. The Center for Environmental Liaison works to promote the participation of non-governmental organizations in the work of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), whose headquarters was established in Nairobi after the UN Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm in 1972. Maathai also joined the Kenya National Women's Council (NCWK). Through his work in these various volunteer associations, it became clear to Maathai that the root of most Kenyan problems is environmental degradation.

In 1974, the Maathai family expanded to include his third son, Muta's son. Her husband campaigned again to get a seat in Parliament, hoping to represent Lang'ata's constituency, and win. During his campaign, he promised to find employment to limit the increasing unemployment in Kenya. These promises made Maathai connect his idea of ​​environmental restoration to provide jobs for the unemployed and lead the establishment of Envirocare Ltd., a business involving tree planting to preserve the environment, involving ordinary people in the process. This led to the planting of its first tree nursery, planted with government tree nurseries in the Karura Forest. Envirocare has many problems, especially dealing with funding. Project failed. However, through a conversation about Envirocare and its work at the Environmental Liaison Center, UNEP made it possible to send Maathai to the first UN conference on human settlements, known as Habitat I, in June 1976.

In 1977, Maathai spoke to NCWK about his presence at Habitat I. He proposed further tree planting, which was supported by the council. On June 5, 1977, marking World Environment Day, NCWK marched in a procession from the Kenyatta International Conference Center in downtown Nairobi to Kamukunji Park on the outskirts of town where they planted seven trees in honor of the leader of the historical community. This is the first "Green Belt" first known as "Save the Land Harambee" and later became the Green Belt Movement. Maathai encourages Kenyan women to plant tree nurseries throughout the country, searching for nearby forests for seeds to plant native trees of the area. He agreed to pay the women a little salary for each seed that was then planted elsewhere.

In his 2010 book Filling the Earth: Spiritual Values ​​for Healing the World and Self, he discusses the impact of the Green Belt Movement, explaining that the group's civil and environmental seminars emphasize "the importance of society taking responsibility for their actions and mobilization to meet their local needs , "and added," We all have to work hard to make a difference in our environment, region, and country, and in the world as a whole.That means making sure we work hard, collaborate with each other, and make ourselves better agents to change. "

1977-1979: Personal issues

Maathai and her husband, Mwangi Mathai, split up in 1977. After a long separation, Mwangi filed for divorce in 1979. Mwangi is said to believe that Wangari is "too strong for a woman" and that he "can not control it." "In addition to calling himself" cruel "in court filings, he publicly accused him of infidelity with another Member of Parliament, who in turn was considered to be causing high blood pressure and the judge decided to support Mwangi.A shortly after the trial, in an interview with Viva magazine refers to the judge as incompetent or corrupt.An interview then leads the judge to sue Maathai with humiliation of the courts.He was found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison.After three days in the Lang'ata Women's Prison in Nairobi, his lawyer formulated a statement which, according to an adequate court for her release.A shortly after the divorce, her ex-husband sent a letter through her lawyer demanding Maathai drop her family name.He chose to add an additional "a" instead.

The divorce was expensive, and with lawyers' fees and the loss of her husband's income, Maathai found it difficult to provide for himself and his children for their university wages. An opportunity appears to work for the Economic Commission for Africa through the United Nations Development Program. Because this job requires expansion of travel across Africa and especially based in Lusaka, Zambia, he can not bring his children with him. Maathai chose to send them to her ex-husband and take the job. When he visited them regularly, they stayed with their father until 1985.

1979-1982: Political problems

In 1979, shortly after the divorce, Maathai ran for the chair of Kenya's National Council of Women (NCWK), an umbrella organization composed of many women's organizations in the country. The newly elected president of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi, tries to limit the number of influences of people of the Kikuyu ethnic held in the country, including in volunteer civil organizations such as NCWK. He lost the election with three votes, but was chosen to be the vice-chairman of the organization. The following year, Maathai re-run for NCWK chairmanship. Again he was opposed, he believed, by the government. When it became clear that Maathai would win the election, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, a member organization representing the majority of Kenyan rural women and whose leader was close to Arap Moi, resigned from NCWK. Maathai was later elected chairman of the NCWK without a fight. However, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake came to receive most of the financial support for women's programs in the country, and NCWK was left bankrupt. Future funding is much harder to obtain, but the NCWK endures by increasing its focus on the environment and making its presence and work known. Maathai continued to be re-elected to serve as chairman of the organization every year until he retired from office in 1987.

In 1982, the parliamentary seat representing his native region of Pain was open, and Maathai decided to campaign for the chair. As required by law, he resigned his position with the University of Nairobi to campaign for office. The court ruled that he was not eligible to run because he did not re-register to vote in the last presidential election in 1979. Maathai believes this is wrong and illegal, and takes the matter to court. The court will meet at nine o'clock in the morning, and if he receives a favorable decision, is required to submit his nomination papers in Nyeri at three o'clock that afternoon. The judge disqualified him from a technical run. When he asked for his job back, he was rejected. Since he lives in a university housing and is no longer a member of staff, he is expelled.

Green Belt Movement

Maathai moved into a small house he bought several years earlier, and focused on NCWK when he was looking for work. In his work through NCWK, he was approached by Wilhelm Elsrud, executive director of the Norwegian Forestry Society. He wanted to partner with the Green Belt Movement and offered him the position of the coordinator. Hired again, Maathai pours his efforts into the Green Belt Movement. Together with the partnership for the Norwegian Forest Society, the movement also received "seed money" from the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Women. These funds allow for the expansion of the movement, to hire additional employees to oversee operations, and to continue paying small salaries to women planting seeds across the country. This enabled him to improve movement operations, paying small salaries to educated husband and boys and able to keep accurate records of seeds planted.

The United Nations convenes a third global women's conference in Nairobi. During the conference, Maathai arranged seminars and presentations to illustrate the work of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. He escorted the delegates to see the nursery and plant trees. He met Peggy Snyder, the head of UNIFEM, and Helvi SipilÃÆ'¤, the first woman appointed as assistant to the UN secretary general. The conference helped to expand funding for the Green Belt Movement and led to the formation of the movement itself outside Kenya. In 1986, with funding from UNEP, the movement expanded throughout Africa and led to the formation of the Pan-African Green Belt Network. Forty-five representatives from fifteen African countries travel to Kenya over the next three years to learn how to set up a similar program in their own country to combat desertification, deforestation, water crisis and famine in the countryside. The attention received by the movement in the media caused Maathai to be honored with numerous awards. The Kenyan government, however, demanded that the Green Belt Movement be separated from the NCWK, believing that the latter should focus only on women's issues, not the environment. Therefore, in 1987, Maathai resigned as chair of the NCWK and focused on a new, separate non-governmental organization.

Government intervention

In the second half of the 1980s, the Kenyan government came down against Maathai and the Green Belt Movement. The single party regime is opposed to many positions of movements regarding democratic rights. The government implements colonial-era laws that prohibit more than nine people to meet without a government license. In 1988, the Green Belt Movement conducted pro-democracy activities such as registering voters for elections and suppressing constitutional reform and freedom of expression. The government cheated elections in elections to maintain power, according to Maathai.

In October 1989, Maathai learned about plans to build the 60-story Kenyan Media Media Trust complex at Uhuru Park. The complex is meant to be the headquarters of KANU, the Kenya Times newspaper, the trade center, the office, the auditorium, the gallery, the shopping center, and the parking lot for 2,000 cars. The plan also includes a large statue of President Daniel Arap Moi. Maathai wrote many letters in protest, among others, the Kenya Times, Presidential Office, Nairobi City Commission, Provincial Commissioner, Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, UNEP Executive Director and the International Liaison Office Environment, Executive Director of the Organization The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the ministry of public works, and the permanent secretary in the international security and administration department all received letters. He wrote to Sir John Johnson, the British high commissioner in Nairobi, urging him to intervene with Robert Maxwell, the main shareholder in the project, likening the construction of a tower at Uhuru Park to such a construction in Hyde Park or Central Park and maintaining it it can not be tolerated.

The government refused to respond to questions and protests, instead responding through the media that Maathai was a "mad woman"; that rejecting the project at Uhuru Park would take up more than a small portion of public parkland; and proclaimed the project as "a fine and magnificent architectural masterpiece" opposed by only "a handful of ignorant people". On November 8, 1989, Parliament expressed outrage over Maathai's actions, complained of his letters to foreign organizations and called the Green Belt Movement a fake organization and its members "a group of divorces". They suggested that if Maathai was so comfortable writing to Europeans, maybe he should live in Europe.

Despite Maathai's protests, as well as popular protests grew throughout the city, the land was damaged in Uhuru Park for the construction of the compound on November 15, 1989. Maathai requested orders in Kenya High Court to stop construction, but the case was disposed on December 11. In his first project-related public commentary, President Daniel Arap Moi stated that those who opposed the project had "insects in their heads". On December 12, at Uhuru Park, during a speech celebrating independence from England, President Moi suggested Maathai be the right woman in African tradition and respect men and silence. He was forced by the government to vacate his office, and the Green Belt Movement was transferred to his home. The government then audits the Green Belt Movement in a real effort to shut it down. Despite all this, the protests, the government's response - and the media coverage it mobilized - led to foreign investors canceling the project in January 1990.

In January 1992, it became the concern of Maathai and other pro-democracy activists that the list of people was the target of the killings and that a government-sponsored coup was possible. The name Maathai is on the list. The pro-democracy group, known as the Forum for Democratic Recovery (FORD), presented its information to the media, calling for elections. Later that day, Maathai received a warning that one of their members had been arrested. Maathai decided to barricade himself at his home. Shortly thereafter, the police arrived and surrounded the house. He was surrounded for three days before the police cut through the bars he put in the window, went in, and caught him. He and other pro-democracy activists who have been arrested are accused of spreading malicious rumor, incitement, and treason. After a day and a half in prison, they were taken to court and released on bail. International organizations and eight senators (including Al Gore and Edward M. Kennedy) pressure the Kenyan government to prove allegations against pro-democracy activists or risk damaging relations with the United States. In November 1992, the Kenyan government scrapped the charges.

On February 28, 1992, when released on bail, Maathai and others took part in a hunger strike at the corner of Uhuru Park, which they labeled Freedom Corner, to pressure the government to release political prisoners. After four days of hunger strike, on 3 March 1992, the police forcibly removed the protesters. Maathai and three others were passed out by police and hospitalized. President Daniel Moap Moi called him a "mad woman" and "a threat to the order and security of the country". The attack drew international condemnation. The US State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the violence and by forcible displacement of starving strikers. When the prisoners were not released, the protesters - mostly mothers of those imprisoned - transferred their protests to the All Saints Cathedral, the seat of the Archlishop Anglican in Kenya, across from Uhuru Park. The protests there continued, with Maathai contributing frequently, until early 1993, when the prisoners were finally released.

During this time, Maathai was recognized with numerous international awards, but the Kenyan government did not appreciate his work. In 1991 he received the Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco and the African Award for Leadership at the Hunger Project in London. CNN broadcasted a three-minute segment about Goldman's reward, but when it aired in Kenya, the segment was cut. In June 1992, during a long protest at Uhuru Park, both Maathai and President Arap Moi traveled to Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit). The Kenyan government accused Maathai of inciting women and urging them to disarm in the Freedom Corner, insisting that he not be allowed to speak at the summit. Nevertheless, Maathai was chosen to be the chief spokesman at the summit.

Encouraging democracy

During Kenya's first multi-party election, in 1992, Maathai tried to unite the opposition and for a fair election in Kenya. The Forum for Democratic Recovery (FORD) has been cracked into FORD-Kenya (led by Oginga Odinga) and FORD-Asili (headed by Kenneth Matiba); former vice-president Mwai Kibaki has left Kenya's ruling African National Party (KANU) party, and formed the Democratic Party. Maathai and many others believe that such a fractured opposition will lead to KANU's retaining control of the country, so they form the Middle Ground Group in an effort to unite the opposition. Maathai was chosen to serve as chairman. Also during the election, Maathai and the like-minded opposition members formed the Movement for Free and Fair Election. Despite their efforts, the opposition is not united, and the ruling KANU party uses state-sponsored intimidation and media to win elections, maintaining parliamentary control.

The following year, ethnic clashes took place throughout Kenya. Maathai believes they are instigated by the government, which has warned of the harsh consequences of multi-party democracy. Maathai traveled with friends and the press to a violent area to encourage them to stop fighting. With the Green Belt Movement he planted a "peace tree", but soon his actions were opposed by the government. The conflict areas were labeled "no go zones", and in February 1993, the president claimed that Maathai had masterminded the distribution of leaflets inciting Kikuyus to attack Kalenjins. After his friend and supporter Dr. Makanga was kidnapped, Maathai chose to hide. While hiding, Maathai was invited to a meeting in Tokyo from Green Cross International, an environmental organization recently founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. When Maathai replied that he could not attend because he did not believe the government would allow him to leave the country and he was hiding, Gorbachev pressed the Kenyan government to allow him to travel freely. President Arap Moi has denied limiting his journey, and he was allowed to leave the country, albeit late for a meeting in Tokyo. Maathai was once again internationally recognized, and he flew to Scotland to receive the Edinburgh Medal in April 1993. In May he went to Chicago to receive the Jane Addams International Women's Leadership Award, and in June he attended the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights Vienna.

During the 1997 election, Maathai once again wanted to unite the opposition to defeat the ruling party. In November, less than two months before the election, he decided to run for parliament and president as a Liberal Party candidate. His intentions are widely questioned in the mass media; many believe he has to keep running the Green Belt Movement and stay out of politics. On election day, rumors that Maathai has resigned from election and supported other candidates printed in the media. Maathai collected some votes and lost the election.

In the summer of 1998, Maathai learned of the government's plans to privatize large areas of public land in Karura Forest, just outside Nairobi, and give it to political supporters. Maathai protested this by letter to the government and the press. He went with the Green Belt Movement to the Karura Forest, planted trees and protested the destruction of the forest. On January 8, 1999, a group of protesters including Maathai, six opposition MPs, journalists, international observers, and members and supporters of the Green Belt returned to the forest to plant trees in protest. Getting into the forest is guarded by a large group of men. When he tried to plant a tree in an area that had been set for clearance for the golf course, the group was attacked. Many wounded protesters, including Maathai, four members of parliament, several journalists, and German environmental activists. When he reported the attack to the police, they refused to return with him to the forest to arrest the attackers. However, the attack was filmed by Maathai supporters, and the event triggered international outrage. Student protests broke out throughout Nairobi, and some of these groups were forcibly dismissed by police. The protests continued until August 16, 1999, when the president announced that he banned all public land allocations.

In 2001, the government again planned to take public forest land and give it to its supporters. During this protest and collecting a petition signature on March 7, 2001, in Wang'uru village near Mount Kenya, Maathai was once again arrested. The following day, after an international and popular protest on his arrest, he was released without being prosecuted. On July 7, 2001, shortly after planting a tree in the Freedom Corner at Uhuru Park in Nairobi to commemorate Saba Saba Day, Maathai was again arrested. That night, he was again freed at no charge. In January 2002, Maathai again taught as Dorothy McCluskey Visiting Fellow for Conservation at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He remained there until June 2002, teaching courses on sustainable development focusing on the work of the Green Belt Movement.

Election to parliament

Upon his return to Kenya, Maathai again campaigned for parliament in the 2002 election, this time as a candidate of the National Pelangi Coalition, an umbrella organization that eventually united the opposition. On December 27, 2002, the Rainbow Coalition defeated the ruling Kenyan African National Union, and at Tetu Constituency Maathai won with an incredible 98% of the vote. In January 2003, he was appointed Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and served in that capacity until November 2005. He founded Mazingira Green Party of Kenya in 2003 to enable the candidates to walk on the conservation platform as realized by the Green Belt Movement. It is a member of the Federation of African Green Party and Global Greens.

Maps Wangari Maathai

Nobel Peace Prize 2004

Wangari Maathai was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for "his contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace". He had received a call from Ole Danbolt Mjos, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, on Oct. 8 that told him about the news. She became the first African woman, and the first environmental activist, to win the prize.

The 2016 documentary Innsaei: The Power of Intuition is dedicated to his memory.

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AIDS

The controversy arose when it was reported by The Standard that Maathai had claimed HIV/AIDS "deliberately created by Western scientists to destroy the African population." Maathai denied making the allegations, but The Standard has survived with his report.

In a 2004 interview with Time, in response to a question about the report, Maathai replied, "I do not know who created AIDS and whether it is a biological agent or not, but I know such things not coming from the moon I always thought it was important to tell people the truth, but I think there is some truth that should not be too open, "and when asked what he meant, he continued," I "I refer to AIDS. I'm sure people know where it comes from. And I'm sure it does not come from a monkey. "In response he issued the following statement:

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2005-2011: Next life

On March 28, 2005, Maathai was elected first president of the African Union's Economic, Social and Cultural Council and was appointed ambassador for initiatives aimed at protecting the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem. In 2006, he was one of eight flag-bearers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Also on May 21, 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by and gave a lecture at Connecticut College. He supports the Desert Year and International Desertification Program. In November 2006, he pioneered the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign. Maathai is one of the founders of the Nobel Women's Initiative along with Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta MenchÃÆ'º Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. The six women representing North and South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa decided to unite their experiences in a concerted effort for peace with justice and equality. This is the goal of the Nobel Women's Initiative to help strengthen the work done to support women's rights worldwide.

In August 2006, US Senator Barack Obama traveled to Kenya. His father was educated in America through the same program as Maathai. He and the Senator met and planted a tree together at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. Obama called for freedom of the press to be respected, saying, "Press freedom like caring for gardens should continue to be nurtured and cultivated and citizens should respect it for one of the things that can escape if we are not vigilant." He deplores global ecological losses, alienates refusal of President George W. Bush to join the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its subsidiary, the Kyoto Protocol.

Maathai was defeated in the main election of the National Unity Party for his parliamentary candidate in November 2007 and chose to run as a candidate of the smaller party. He was defeated in parliamentary elections in December 2007. He called for a recount of vote in the presidential election (officially won by Mwai Kibaki, but denied by the opposition) in his election area, saying that both sides should feel the result is fair and there are indications of fraud.

In June 2009, Maathai was named one of PeaceByPeace.com's first peace heroes. Until his death in 2011, Maathai served on the Advisory Board of Eminent of the European Parliamentary Society with Africa (AWEPA).

Wangari Maathai died on September 25, 2011 due to complications arising from ovarian cancer while receiving treatment at a Nairobi hospital.

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Champion Wangari Maathai Forest Award

In 2012, the Collaborative Partnership on CPF Forestry, an international consortium of 14 organizations, secretariats and agencies working on international forestry issues, launched the first Wangari Maathai Forest Prize. The winner of the 2012 Award is Narayan Kaji Shrestha.

Other winners include:

• 2012 Narayan Kaji Shrestha with Honorable Pronunciation for Begurs Kurshida
• 2014 Martha Isabel Pati Ruiz Corzo with Hail Remarks for Chut Wutty
• 2015 Gertrude Kabusimbi Kenyangi

The 2017 award was presented at the 4th Global Landscape Forum (GLF) in Bonn, Germany, December 19-20, 2017 to Maria Margarida Ribeiro da Silva. Maria Margarida Ribeiro da Silva, a Brazilian forest activist, was awarded Wangari Maathai Forest Honor for her achievements in promoting community forest management and improving the quality of life for many Amazon communities. In addition to being awarded the 2017 Wangari Maathai Forest Champion, Ribiero da Silva also received a cash prize of $ 20,000 USD.

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Posthumous recognition

In 2012, Wangari Park opened in Washington, DC. Wangari Gardens is a 2.7 hectare community garden project for local residents consisting of over 55 park rations. This community park respects Wangari Maathai's heritage and its mission for community involvement and environmental protection. The Wangari Gardens consists of community gardens, youth parks, outdoor classrooms, pollinating nests and public tree fruit trees, vegetable gardens, herb gardens, berry gardens and strawberry patches. Inside the park complex there are plots of private parks and public parks. Private plots are available for people living within 1.5 miles of community gardens. Private plot holder is required to contribute 1 hour per month for public park maintenance. The gardens and public gardens are run by holder plates and volunteers, and open to everyone to enjoy and harvest. The Wangari Gardens has no direct affiliation with the Green Belt Movement or Wangari Maathai Foundation but is inspired by Wangari Maathai and his work and passion for the environment.

On September 25, 2013, Wangari Maathai Tree and Garden is dedicated on the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning page. The memorial includes two red trees that symbolize Maathai's commitment to the environment, the establishment of the Green Belt Movement, and its roots in Kenya and in Pittsburgh "and a flower planted garden in a circular shape that represents" his global vision and dedication to women and children of the world " with an ornamental maple tree in the middle indicating "how one small seed can change the world".

By 2014, on what will be his 50-year reunion, his classmates in Mount St. Scholastica and Benedictine College opened a Nobel Prize-winning statue on his alma mater's Atchison, Kansas campus.

In October 2016, Forest Road in Nairobi was renamed Wangari Maathai Road because of its efforts against several attempts to destroy forests and public parks through the Green Belt Movement.

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Preferred publication

• Green Belt Movement: Sharing Approach and Experience . Lantern Books. 2004. ISBN: 978-1-59056-040-2. ; (1985)
• The bottom is also heavy: even with the Green Belt Movement: Edinburgh's Fifth Medal Address (1994)
• Development bottles in Africa (1995)
• Canopy of Hope: My Life Campaigns for Africa, Women and Environment (2002)
• Unbowed: A Memoir (2006) ISBNÃ, 9780307492333
• Retake rights and resources of women, poverty, and environment (2007)
• Harvesting Water (2008)
• World minority country 2008: events of 2007 (2008)
• Challenge for Africa . Book Anchors. 2010. ISBN 978-0-307-39028-8. Ã, ; (2009)
• Moral Ground: Ethical Actions for Dangerous Planet . (2010) Nelson chapters, Michael P. and Kathleen Dean Moore (eds.). Trinity University Press, ISBN 9781595340665
• Charge the Earth (2010) ISBN 978-0-307-59114-2

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Awards

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See also

• Nobel Nobel Prize in Black
• List of Nobel laureate women
• List of peace activists
• Mottainai
• Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV), 2008.
• Women's Environment & amp; Development Organization

References

Further reading

• Wangari Maathai, Unified: A Memoir , Knopf, 2006. ISBNÃ, 0-307-26348-7
• Wangari Maathai, Greenbelt Movement: Sharing Approach and Experience, Book Lantern, 2003. ISBNÃ, 1-59056-040-X
• Wangari Maathai, Canopy of Hope: My Life Campaigns for Africa, Women and the Environment , Lantern Books, 2002. ISBNÃ, 1-59056-002-7
• Wangari Maathai, Bottom of Weight Also: Edinburgh Medal Lecture , Edinburgh UP, 1994. ISBNÃ, 0-7486-0518-5
• Picture book (fr.), Franck PrÃÆ'  © vot (text) & amp; Aurà ©  © lia Fronty (illustration), Wangari Maathai, la femme qui plante des millions d'arbres , Rue du monde, 2011 (ISBN: 978-2-3550-4158-7)

External links

• Take Roots: Vision of the documentary film Wangari Maathai
• Official Website: Green Belt Movement and Wangari Maathai
• Wangari Maathai and Tree Billion Campaign
• Features of Wangari Maathai by the International Women's Museum
• Appearance in C-SPAN
• Lantern Book Blog: Lantern and Wangari Maathai (Video)
• The seeds of change plant a path to peace
• The Nobel Women's Initiative

Source of the article : Wikipedia