Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai born April 1, 1940 lived a full life as a renowned social environmental and political activists. She was the founder of the Green Belt Movement in 1977, (https://www.greenbeltmovement.org) an organization that aims to restore ecosystems and reduce impacts of climate change by planting trees and spreading awareness about conservation. Her efforts to develop her community through planting trees has garnered her the 2004 Nobel Prize for Environment. Even with her passing on September 25, 2011 her work was able to live on. To date this organization has contributed in planting over 51 million trees in Kenya. Her broad-based grassroots organization established a Pan African Network which exposed others to this approach in conservation in 1986. This starting similar initiatives in countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho etc.
Over her life she has accomplished so many things. She was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Professor Maathai got her bachelors in Biological science, then moved on to get her masters and finally Ph.D. in Germany (1971) where she taught veterinary anatomy. From then, she become the first woman to become the chair of the department of veterinary anatomy (1976) and an associate professor (1977) in the region. She was active in the National council of Women (1976-1987) where she became chairman (1981-1987). It was while she served in this council when she introduced her idea of planting trees. For more information on her life work check out her biography (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2004/maathai/biographical/) or her wiki page.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 