Wangari Maathai Biography
Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. The
first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree.
Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount
St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964). She subsequently
earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh
(1966). She pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University
of Nairobi, obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi
where she also taught veterinary anatomy. She became chair of the
Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976
and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to
attain those positions in the region. Wangari Maathai was active in
the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976-87 and was its
chairman in 1981-87. It was while she served in the National Council
of Women that she introduced the idea of planting trees with the
people in 1976 and continued to develop it into a broad-based,
grassroots organization whose main focus is the planting of trees
with women groups in order to conserve the environment and improve
their quality of life. However, through the Green Belt Movement she
has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their
farms and on schools and church compounds.
In 1986, the Movement
established a Pan African Green Belt Network and has exposed over 40
individuals from other African countries to the approach. Some of
these individuals have established similar tree planting initiatives
in their own countries or they use some of the Green Belt Movement
methods to improve their efforts. So far some countries have
successfully launched such initiatives in Africa (Tanzania, Uganda,
Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, etc). In September 1998, she
launched a campaign of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition. She has embarked
on new challenges, playing a leading global role as a co-chair of
the Jubilee 2000 Africa Campaign, which seeks cancellation of the
unpayable backlog debts of the poor countries in Africa by the year
2000. Her campaign against land grabbing and rapacious allocation of
forests land has caught the limelight in the recent past.
Wangari Maathai is internationally recognized for her persistent
struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation.
She has addressed the UN on several occasions and spoke on behalf of
women at special sessions of the General Assembly for the five-year
review of the earth summit. She served on the commission for Global
Governance and Commission on the Future. She and the Green Belt
Movement have received numerous awards, most notably The 2004 Nobel
Peace Prize. Others include The Sophie Prize (2004), The Petra Kelly
Prize for Environment (2004), The Conservation Scientist Award
(2004), J. Sterling Morton Award (2004), WANGO Environment Award
(2003), Outstanding Vision and Commitment Award (2002), Excellence
Award from the Kenyan Community Abroad (2001), Golden Ark Award
(1994), Juliet Hollister Award (2001), Jane Adams Leadership Award
(1993), Edinburgh Medal (1993), The Hunger Project's Africa Prize
for Leadership (1991), Goldman Environmental Prize (1991), the Woman
of the World (1989), Windstar Award for the Environment (1988),
Better World Society Award (1986), Right Livelihood Award (1984) and
the Woman of the Year Award (1983). Professor Maathai was also
listed on UNEP's Global 500 Hall of Fame and named one of the 100
heroines of the world. In June 1997, Wangari was elected by Earth
Times as one of 100 persons in the world who have made a difference
in the environmental arena. Professor Maathai has also received
honorary doctoral degrees from several institutions around the
world: William's College, MA, USA (1990), Hobart & William Smith
Colleges (1994), University of Norway (1997) and Yale University
(2004).
The Green Belt Movement and Professor Wangari Maathai are
featured in several publications including The Green Belt Movement:
Sharing the Approach (by Professor Wangari Maathai, 2002), Speak
Truth to Power (Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, 2000), Women Pioneers for the
Environment (Mary Joy Breton, 1998), Hopes Edge: The Next Diet for a
Small Planet (Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, 2002), Una Sola
Terra: Donna I Medi Ambient Despres de Rio (Brice Lalonde et al.,
1998), Land Ist Leben (Bedrohte Volker, 1993).
Professor Maathai serves on the boards of several organizations
including the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament,
The Jane Goodall Institute, Women and Environment Development
Organization (WEDO), World Learning for International Development,
Green Cross International, Environment Liaison Center International,
the WorldWIDE Network of Women in Environmental Work and National
Council of Women of Kenya.
In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to parliament
with an overwhelming 98% of the vote. She was subsequently appointed
by the president, as Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural
Resources and Wildlife in Kenya's ninth parliament.
In 2006, French President Jacques Chirac awarded Wangari Maathai France’s
highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur. The decoration ceremony took place in Paris
in April 2006 and was presided over by the French Minister of Environment and
Sustainable Development, Nelly Olin. She also received the World
Citizenship Award and the Disney Conservation Fund Award.
She has been awarded The Nelson Mandela Award for Health and
Human Rights and the Jawarhalal Nehru Award. She is the author of several books, including The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Pproach and the Experience, Unbowed: A Memoir, Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World, and The Challenge for Africa.
She died in Nairobi in late September 2011 while undergoing cancer treatment. She was 71.
This biography was last updated on 09/25/2011.
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