Excerpt from Nobel Prize Speech by Wangari Maathai
“In 1977, when we started the Green Belt Movement, I was partly responding to needs identified by rural women, namely lack of firewood, clean drinking water, balanced diets, shelter and income.
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.
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 as well as the introduction of commercial farming, which replaced the growing of household food crops. But international trade controlled the price of the exports from these small-scale farmers and a reasonable and just income could not be guaranteed. I came to understand that when the environment is destroyed, plundered or mismanaged, we undermine our quality of life and that of future generations.
Tree planting became a natural choice to address some of the initial basic needs identified by women. Also, tree planting is simple, attainable and guarantees quick, successful results within a reasonable amount of time. This sustains interest and commitment.
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. This work continues.
Initially, the work was difficult because historically our people have been persuaded to believe that because they are poor, they lack not only capital, but also knowledge and skills to address their challenges. Instead they are conditioned to believe that solutions to their problems must come from ‘outside’. Further, women did not realize that meeting their needs depended on their environment being healthy and well managed. They were also unaware that a degraded environment leads to a scramble for scarce resources and may culminate in poverty and even conflict. They were also unaware of the injustices of international economic arrangements.
In order to assist communities to understand these linkages, we developed a citizen education program, during which people identify their problems, the causes and possible solutions. They then make connections between their own personal actions and the problems they witness in the environment and in society. They learn that our world is confronted with a litany of woes: corruption, violence against women and children, disruption and breakdown of families, and disintegration of cultures and communities. They also identify the abuse of drugs and chemical substances, especially among young people. There are also devastating diseases that are defying cures or occurring in epidemic proportions. Of particular concern are HIV/AIDS, malaria and diseases associated with malnutrition.
On the environment front, they are exposed to many human activities that are devastating to the environment and societies. These include widespread destruction of ecosystems, especially through deforestation, climatic instability, and contamination in the soils and waters that all contribute to excruciating poverty.
In the process, the participants discover that they must be part of the solutions. They realize their hidden potential and are empowered to overcome inertia and take action. They come to recognize that they are the primary custodians and beneficiaries of the environment that sustains them.
Entire communities also come to understand that while it is necessary to hold their governments accountable, it is equally important that in their own relationships with each other, they exemplify the leadership values they wish to see in their own leaders, namely justice, integrity and trust….”
Retrieved from the Nobel Prize Archives: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2004/maathai/lecture/ on 8/04/2025
Invitation: “… be part of the solutions.”
Read more about Wangari Maathai, her work and her accomplishments - and her books at this link.
Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and the first laureate to have been selected for activities focused primarily on environmental sustainability. Educated as a biologist in the USA and Kenya, Maathai saw how deforestation and erosion were making life increasingly difficult for women in rural Kenyan villages in the 1970s. They were forced to walk miles to find wood for cooking fires, and livestock grasing grounds were becoming depleted. In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement with the aim of regenerating Africa’s forests and ending the deprivation and conflict created by deforestation. The movement was a success, but the dictatorial Kenyan authorities tried to curb her efforts. She was harassed, beaten and jailed. Thus an environmental campaign became a fight for human rights. (more at this link)
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"In the process, the participants discover that they must be part of the solutions. They realize their hidden potential and are empowered to overcome inertia and take action. They come to recognize that they are the primary custodians and beneficiaries of the environment that sustains them." Wangai Maathai.
The vision and work of Wangai Maathai in the creation of the Greenbelt Movement is one of the great stories of our time. I lived and worked in Zimbabwe for 2 years and I observed and was inspired by the significant role African women offer in their families and communities. When we, when I, realize that I can be part of the solution, this places me/us on a new path. This question -- how can I be part of the solution -- in this political and legal chaos -- is one I struggle to understand in this tumultuous time. I am grateful for the inspiring example of Wangai Maathai.