Wangari Maathai & the Green Belt Movement
- EA2021
- Mar 12, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: May 3, 2021
Wangari Maathai was born in 1940 in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya. From a young age, Maathai was an impressive student, eventually earning the title of the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Accordingly, Maathai began to work as a professor of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Nairobi. By 1981, Maathai had begun to secure her role as a prominent political figure, joining the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK) as Chairwoman after just five years of employment. Using the knowledge that she had acquired through her various occupations, such as the issue of women’s unemployment, soil erosion, food poverty, deforestation and the dwindling African biodiversity, Maathai was inspired to begin one of her most notable life-achievements, the Green Belt Movement (GBM). By embracing the intersect between the pursuit of environmental justice and the empowerment of women, Maathai was able to mobilise members of various Kenyan communities to plant over 51 million trees since the birth of the initiative. Furthermore, the GBM not only helped to reforest exploited land but it also provided communities with jobs and skills training– thus, sustainably alleviating poverty whilst conserving biodiversity. It also provided women with skills such as beekeeping and forestry which helped to foster female financial independence. Additionally, the GBM was accompanied with Community Empowerment and Education (CEE) seminars which encouraged individuals to explore the ways in which they could harness traditional values to better protect their environment and work as a team to counter harmful and exploitive government policies. Hence, alongside being an environmental and feminist initiative with long-term economic solutions, the GBM also acted to preserve Kenyan cultural values in order to empower communities to become more sustainable.
Wangari Maathai is also known for her intersectional political stance on peace, democracy and environmental conservation. By 2002, she had expanded her activism and ran for parliament, entering the Kenyan Tetu Constituency with a near unanimous vote. Her political advocacy focused on nurturing better democratic political systems in Kenya by demanding accountability from the country’s leaders, combatting single-party dictatorships and fighting for the release of political prisoners. However, whilst Maathai received global and domestic recognition for her work, she also experienced considerable resistance from the Kenyan government for her activism focused on constitutional reforms, fairer elections and voting rights. In fact, she was incarcerated for 6 months for stripping down naked in an effort to conserve the Uhuru Park in Nairobi which generated international attention and support. Her passion for freedom and democracy was later inscribed in one of her most famous publications entitled “The challenge for Africa” - a political discourse on democracy in Kenya. Maathai also took on a role in the urban planning of the city of Nairobi by lobbying in favour of green spaces and environmental conservation. Unsurprisingly, by 2004, she was decorated with the Nobel Peace Prize for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace”. She was also later acclaimed as a UN messenger of peace in 2009 for her environmental activism amongst several other impressive accolades.
Today, Wangari Maathai’s legacy is a testament to power of African grassroot organizations and female leadership. Simple ideas can make incredible difference, especially when they receive the support that they deserve. From environmental conservation and feminism to economically empowering communities and encouraging democracy, it is clear that the small seed Maathai planted when creating the GBM has blossomed into a fruitful outcome. Although she unfortunately passed away in 2011, her footprint has not faded; through the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies (WMI) she carries on educating people and helping them gain essential applicable skills for sustainable use of natural resources within the African continent. She believed that through empowering people in Africa with the necessary resources and support, individuals from Africa can lead the restoration of their own problems. Wangari Maathai also continues to inspire African leadership through her Wangari Maathai Foundation which supports African projects and initiatives focused on environmental conservation and creating democratic peace. Lastly, community gardens with outdoor classrooms, youth parks and public orchards were created in her name in Washington DC. These public green spaces honour her dedication for community engagement, commitment for women’s emancipation and environmental justice by being sustained by volunteers and personal plot holders.
This story highlights the incredible competence, adeptness and productivity of African communities to positively influence and heal their environment simply though support and empowerment. People within Africa are hopeful and resilient and developmental discourse has, for far too long, neglected the untapped power of grass-roots organisations and micro-to-macro scale operations. As Maathai has demonstrated, we must believe in the solutions created in Africa through funding and advocacy, especially when they come from people who have a deep understanding of the weaknesses and strengths within various countries in the African continent.
Authors: Aglaë Caperan, Bertille Motte, Thomas Clarke, and Elleni Eshete
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