Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Previously Aired On: October 31, 2006 – Archive Not Currently Available
Wangari Muta Maathai (born April 1, 1940 in the village, Nyeri District) is a Kenyan environmental and political activist. In 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace” – the first African woman to receive the award. Dr. Maathai is also an elected member of Parliament and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005. She is a member of Kikuyu ethnic group.
In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots environmental non-governmental organization, which has now planted over 30 million trees across the country to prevent soil erosion. She has come to be affectionately called “Tree Woman”. Since then, she has been increasingly active on both environmental and women’s issues.
Maathai was also the former chairperson of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (the National Council of Women of Kenya). In the 1980s her husband divorced her, saying she was too strong-minded for a woman, and that he was unable to control her. The judge in the divorce case agreed with the husband.
During the regime of President Daniel Arap Moi, she was imprisoned several times and violently attacked for demanding multi-party elections and an end to political corruption and tribal politics. In 1989 Maathai almost single-handedly saved Nairobi’s Uhuru Park by stopping the construction by Moi’s business associates of the 60-story Kenya Times Media Trust business complex.
In 2002 Maathai was elected to parliament when the National Rainbow Coalition, which she represented, defeated the ruling party Kenya African National Union. She has been Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife since 2003. She founded the Mazingira Green Party of Kenya in 2003.
On 28 March 2005, she was elected as the first president of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council. In 2006 she was one of the eight flag bearers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Also on May 21, 2006 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by and gave the commencement address at Connecticut College.
Her autobiography, Unbowed: One Woman’s Story, was released in 2006 for which she is currently on speaking tour in the United States.
GreenBeltMovement.org
October 31st, 2006
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