Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She started the Green Belt Movement to counter deforestation and mobilise African women to think sustainably.
“Throughout Africa, women are the primary caretakers, holding significant responsibility for tilling the land and feeding their families. As a result, they are often the first to become aware of environmental damage as resources become scarce and incapable of sustaining their families,” she explained in her Nobel Prize lecture.
“The women we worked with recounted that unlike in the past, they were unable to meet their basic needs. This was due to the degradation of their immediate environment. […] I came to understand that when the environment is destroyed, plundered or mismanaged, we undermine our quality of life and that of future generations.”
Maathai thought of the idea for the Green Belt Movement in 1976 when she was serving in the National Council of Women. She floated the idea of groups of women planting trees to conserve the environment and meet the basic needs identified by women.
It grew into a broader movement to improve people’s quality of life and promote democracy, women’s rights and international solidarity. It spread to other African countries.
“So, together, we have planted over 30 million trees that provide fuel, food, shelter, and income to support their children’s education and household needs. The activity also creates employment and improves soils and watersheds. Through their involvement, women gain some degree of power over their lives, especially their social and economic position and relevance in the family.”
