How green is my valley?

 

 

At a time when the World debates global warming, climate change and sustainable developments, the dearth of passionate, committed and fanatical crusaders for the cause stands out as a point of concern. But even though they might be a rare breed, such people are not extinct as yet. Dr. Wangari Maatahi is living proof. The 66-year-old Kenyan Nobel Peace prize winning ecologist-politician is an immaculate example of fighting effectively for the environmental while keeping it ‘elegantly simple’.

Before she was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2004 for her ‘contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace’, Dr. Maathai had tirelessly devoted herself to developing grassroots solutions to environmental problems in her native Kenya that attracted attention and accolades worldwide.

Born in Nyeri, Kenya, in 1940, Maathai has remarkable achievements to her name including becoming the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree (in Anatomy from the University of Nairobi, 1971) as well as the first black African woman to win a Nobel Prize in any category. Among others, she was also a recipient of The Goldman Environmental prize (1991) and The Petra Kelly Environment Prize (2004) and France’s highest civilian honour Legion d’Honneur (2006). But even all the high praise and matching honours fall short of capturing or portraying the impact she has had on the world in general and Kenya in particular. Maathai’s real involvement in the ‘green crusade’ began in 1976 as she introduced the idea of planting trees while she was a part of the National Council of Women (where she was an active member and later chairman). Hearing complaints from women at the Council of them not having enough firewood, and malnutrition, she discovered that political and social problems were contributing to the deforestation and the problems faced by women, despite the region’s fertility. Initially focused on planting trees, she continued to develop it into a broad-based, grassroots organisation with women’s groups in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. This was the genesis of the ‘Green Belt Movement’ that was responsible for the planting more than 30 million trees on their farms and on schools and church compounds and in 1986 spread to a Pan African Green Belt Network encouraging countries like Tanzania, Uganda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia to adopt a similar model with considerable success. As an extension, she founded Kenya’s Green Party in 1987. The idea was simple yet powerful which the Nobel Peace Prize committee recognised as ‘thinking globally and acting locally’.

The next level in Maathai’s activism emerged with her growing involvement in Kenyan politics where her fight against deforestation and government corruption were vilified by President Daniel Arap Moi’s regime. Maathai, like any intrepid campaigner for a just cause, put up a brave face against arrests, death threats and police beatings. Finally, in 2002, President Moi stepped aside from his dictatorial rule and the country had democratic elections. Maathai herself got elected to Parliament (with a mind boggling 98% of votes from her district) where she was named assistant minister for environment, natural resources and wildlife.

Currently the Presiding Officer of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union, Maathai retains her active role and proclivity for proactive initiatives in the global arena. Her latest initiative is an ambitious call on citizens around the world to plant one billion trees in 2007 to fight global warming. The campaign is meant to inspire ordinary citizens to help the environment, and that’s exactly what Wangari Maathai’s credo is—moving people to realise that safeguarding the environment is everyone’s critical responsibility. In ecologically precarious times like these, a few more noble hearts like ‘Tree Woman’ (that’s how she is affectionately known) Maathai’s can tip the balance in Mother Earth’s favour. And future generations would be grateful for it.