Wangarĩ Maathai (pronounced /wænˈɡɑːri mɑːˈðaɪ/; April 1, 1940 – September 25, 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist. She started the Green Belt Movement, a nonprofit group that plants trees, protects the environment, and supports women’s rights. In 2004, she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

She was helped by the Kennedy Airlift to study in the United States. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas, and a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh. Later, she became the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the University of Nairobi in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1984, she received the Right Livelihood Award for helping turn discussions about Kenya’s environment into large-scale tree-planting efforts.

Maathai was a member of Kenya’s parliament and served as assistant minister for environment and natural resources from January 2003 to November 2005 under President Mwai Kibaki. She was also an Honorary Councillor in the World Future Council. As an academic and writer, she authored several books. She contributed important ideas about ecology, development, gender, and African cultures and religions. She died on September 25, 2011, from complications caused by ovarian cancer.

Early life and education

Wangari Maathai was born on April 1, 1940, in the village of Ihithe, Nyeri District, in the central highlands of Kenya, which was a British colony at the time. Her family was Kikuyu, the largest ethnic group in Kenya, and had lived in the area for many generations. In 1943, Maathai's family moved to a farm owned by white settlers in the Rift Valley near Nakuru, where her father found work. In late 1947, she returned to Ihithe with her mother because her two brothers were attending school there, and there was no school on the farm where her father worked. Her father remained at the farm. Soon after, she joined her brothers at Ihithe Primary School at the age of eight.

At age 11, Maathai moved to St. Cecilia's Intermediate Primary School, a boarding school at the Mathari Catholic Mission in Nyeri. She studied there for four years. During this time, she became fluent in English and converted to Catholicism. She was involved with the Legion of Mary, a religious group that works to "serve God by serving fellow human beings." While at St. Cecilia's, she was protected from the Mau Mau uprising, which forced her mother to move from their home to an emergency village in Ihithe. In 1956, Maathai finished her studies at St. Cecilia's and was the top student in her class. She was admitted to Loreto High School in Limuru, the only Catholic high school for girls in Kenya.

As colonial rule in East Africa ended, Kenyan leaders, such as Tom Mboya, proposed ways to send promising students to study in Western countries. John F. Kennedy, then a U.S. Senator, supported this through the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, creating a program known as the Kennedy Airlift or Airlift Africa. Maathai was one of about 300 Kenyans chosen to study in the United States in September 1960.

She received a scholarship to study at Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College) in Atchison, Kansas, where she majored in biology and minored in chemistry and German. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1964, she studied for a master's degree in biology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her studies were funded by the Africa-America Institute. While in Pittsburgh, she first learned about environmental restoration when local activists worked to reduce air pollution in the city. In January 1966, Maathai received her MSc degree in biological sciences and was hired as a research assistant at the University College of Nairobi.

Maathai preferred to be called Wangarĩ Muta when she returned to Kenya. When she arrived at the university to start her job, she was told the position had been given to someone else. She believed this was due to gender and tribal bias. After two months of searching for work, Professor Reinhold Hofmann from the University of Giessen in Germany offered her a job as a research assistant in the microanatomy section of the newly created Department of Veterinary Anatomy at the University College of Nairobi.

In April 1966, Maathai met Mwangi Mathai, another Kenyan who had studied in the United States, and they later married. She also rented a small shop in Nairobi and opened a general store where her sisters worked. In 1967, Professor Hofmann encouraged her to pursue a doctorate at the University of Giessen in Germany. She studied at Giessen and the University of Munich. In spring 1969, she returned to Nairobi to continue her studies at the University College of Nairobi as an assistant lecturer. In May 1969, she married Mwangi Mathai. Later that year, she became pregnant with her first child, and her husband ran for a seat in Parliament but lost the election. During the election, Tom Mboya, who had helped create the program that sent her to study abroad, was assassinated. This led President Kenyatta to stop multi-party democracy in Kenya. Soon after, her first son, Waweru, was born. In 1971, Maathai became the first woman from Eastern Africa to earn a Ph.D. Her doctorate was in veterinary anatomy from the University College of Nairobi, which later became the University of Nairobi. She completed her dissertation on the development and differentiation of gonads in bovines. Her daughter, Wanjira, was born in December 1971.

Activism and political life

Wangari Maathai continued teaching at the University of Nairobi. In 1975, she became a senior lecturer in anatomy. In 1976, she became the chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy. In 1977, she was promoted to associate professor. She was the first woman in Nairobi to hold any of these positions. During this time, she worked to ensure women on the university staff received equal benefits. She tried to turn the academic staff association into a union to negotiate for better conditions. The courts refused this request, but many of her demands were later met.

In the early 1970s, Maathai joined several civic groups. She became a member of the Nairobi branch of the Kenya Red Cross Society and its director in 1973. She was also part of the Kenya Association of University Women. After the Environment Liaison Centre was created in 1974, Maathai joined its local board and later became its chair. This group aimed to help non-governmental organizations work with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP’s headquarters was in Nairobi after a 1972 conference in Stockholm. Maathai also joined the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK). Through her work with these groups, she realized that many of Kenya’s problems were linked to environmental damage.

In 1974, Maathai had a third child, a son named Muta. Her husband ran for a seat in Parliament to represent the Lang’ata constituency and won. He promised to create jobs to reduce unemployment. These promises inspired Maathai to connect environmental restoration with job creation. This led to the founding of Envirocare Ltd., a company that planted trees to protect the environment and involved local people. She started a tree nursery near Karura Forest, which was also a government nursery. However, Envirocare faced financial problems and eventually failed. Despite this, her work with Envirocare and the Environment Liaison Centre helped UNEP send her to the first UN conference on human settlements, called Habitat I, in 1976.

In 1977, Maathai spoke to the NCWK about her experience at Habitat I. She suggested planting more trees, and the council supported her. On June 5, 1977, which was World Environment Day, the NCWK marched from Kenyatta International Conference Centre to Kamukunji Park. There, they planted seven trees to honor community leaders. This event marked the start of the Green Belt Movement. Maathai encouraged Kenyan women to plant tree nurseries across the country. She collected seeds from nearby forests to grow native trees. She paid women a small amount for each seedling they planted.

In her 2010 book, Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World, Maathai described the Green Belt Movement’s impact. She explained that the group taught communities to take responsibility for their actions and work together to solve local problems. She also discussed how religious traditions, such as the Kikuyu religion and Christianity, could support environmental efforts.

Maathai and her husband, Mwangi Mathai, separated in 1977. After a long separation, Mwangi filed for divorce in 1979. He claimed Maathai was "too strong-minded" and "unable to control her." He also accused her of adultery in court, which he said caused his health problems. The judge ruled in Mwangi’s favor. Later, Maathai criticized the judge in an interview, which led to her being charged with contempt of court. She was sentenced to six months in jail but was released after her lawyer provided a statement the court accepted. After the divorce, Mwangi asked Maathai to remove his surname from her name. Instead, she added an extra "a" to her name.

The divorce was expensive. With legal fees and the loss of her husband’s income, Maathai struggled to support herself and her children on her university salary. She later worked for the Economic Commission for Africa through the United Nations Development Programme. This job required her to travel across Africa and was based in Zambia. She could not bring her children with her, so she sent them to live with her ex-husband. She visited them regularly until 1985.

In 1979, shortly after the divorce, Maathai ran for chairperson of the NCWK. At the time, Kenya’s president, Daniel arap Moi, limited the influence of Kikuyu people in organizations like the NCWK. Maathai lost the election by three votes but was chosen as vice-chairperson. In 1980, she ran again for chairman. She believes the government opposed her. When it seemed she would win, a group called Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, which represented many rural women, withdrew from the NCWK. Maathai was then elected chairman without opposition. However, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake received most of the funding for women’s programs, leaving the NCWK nearly bankrupt. The NCWK survived by focusing more on environmental work and increasing its visibility. Maathai remained chairman until 1987.

In 1982, the parliamentary seat for Nyeri, Maathai’s home region, became available. She decided to run for the seat and resigned from the University of Nairobi to campaign. The courts ruled she could not run because she had not re-registered to vote in the 1979 presidential election. Maathai believed this was incorrect and took the case to court. The judge ruled against her on a technicality, saying she should have re-registered. When she asked for her job back, it was denied. Since she lived in university housing and was no longer a staff member, she was evicted.

Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 to address environmental concerns in rural areas.

2004 Nobel Peace Prize

Wangarĩ Maathai received the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in promoting sustainable development, democracy, and peace. She was the first African woman to win this important award. According to Nobel’s rules, the Peace Prize is given to someone who has done the most to promote friendship between countries, reduce military forces, and support peace meetings. Between 1901 and 2018, 52 Nobel Prizes were awarded to women, while 852 were awarded to men. Wangari Maathai became the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the Peace Prize through her efforts.

— The Norwegian Nobel Committee, in a statement announcing her as the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

AIDS conspiracy theory

A disagreement happened when the Kenyan newspaper The Standard reported that Maathai said HIV/AIDS was "intentionally made by Western scientists to harm the African population." Maathai said she did not make these claims, but The Standard continued to support its report.

In a 2004 interview with Time magazine, when asked about the report, Maathai said: "I do not know who created AIDS or if it is a living organism. But I know things like that do not come from space. I believe it is important to tell people the truth, but I think some truths should not be shared." When asked what she meant, she added, "I am referring to AIDS. I believe people already know where it came from. I am certain it did not come from monkeys." She then made the following statement.

2005–2011: Later life

After a trip to Japan in 2005, Maathai became a strong supporter of the waste-reduction idea called mottainai, a Japanese term from Buddhist traditions. On March 28, 2005, she was chosen as the first president of the African Union’s Economic, Social, and Cultural Council. She also became a goodwill ambassador for a program focused on protecting the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem. In 2006, she was one of eight flag-bearers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. On May 21, 2006, she received an honorary doctorate from Connecticut College and gave a speech during the college’s graduation ceremony. She supported the International Year of Deserts and Desertification program. In November 2006, she led the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign. Maathai was one of the founders of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, along with other Nobel Peace Prize winners: Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams, and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. Six women from North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa joined together to share their experiences and work for peace, justice, and equality. The Nobel Women’s Initiative aims to support efforts to improve women’s rights globally.

In August 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama visited Kenya. His father had been educated in the United States through the same program as Maathai. She and Senator Obama met in Nairobi’s Uhuru Park and planted a tree together. Obama said, “Press freedom is like tending a garden; it must be cared for regularly. People must value it because it can disappear if we are not careful.” He criticized global environmental harm and pointed out that President George W. Bush refused to join the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol.

Maathai lost the Party of National Unity’s primary election for parliamentary candidates in November 2007. She then ran as a candidate for a smaller party but lost the December 2007 parliamentary election. She asked for a vote recount in the presidential election (won by Mwai Kibaki but disputed by opponents) in her area. She said both sides should accept the results as fair and that there were signs of possible fraud.

In 2009, she wrote a book titled The Challenge for Africa, sharing her views on governance in Africa, her own experiences, and the importance of environmental protection for Africa’s future. In June 2009, Maathai was named one of PeaceByPeace.com’s first peace heroes. Until her death in 2011, she worked on the Eminent Advisory Board of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA).

Wangari Maathai died on September 25, 2011, from complications caused by ovarian cancer while receiving treatment in Nairobi. Her remains were cremated and buried at the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies in Nairobi.

Wangarĩ Maathai Forest Champion Award

In 2012, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), a group of 14 international organizations, secretariats, and institutions that work on forest-related issues, started the first Wangarĩ Maathai Forest Champion Award.

• 2012 – Narayan Kaji Shrestha, with an honorable mention to Kurshida Begum
• 2014 – Martha Isabel "Pati" Ruiz Corzo, with an honorable mention to Chut Wutty
• 2015 – Gertrude Kabusimbi Kenyangi
• 2017 – Maria Margarida Ribeiro da Silva, a Brazilian forestry activist
• 2019 – Léonidas Nzigiyimpa, a Burundian forestry activist
• 2022 – Cécile Ndjebet, a Cameroonian activist

Posthumous recognition

In 2012, Wangarĩ Gardens opened in Washington, D.C. Wangarĩ Gardens is a community garden for local residents. It has more than 55 garden plots and covers 2.7 acres. The garden honors the legacy of Wangarĩ Maathai and her work to help communities and protect the environment. The garden includes a community garden, youth garden, outdoor classroom, pollinator hive, public fruit tree orchard, vegetable garden, herb garden, berry garden, and a strawberry patch. The garden has both personal plots for residents and public gardens. Personal plots are available to people living within 1.5 miles of the garden. People who use personal plots must spend 1 hour each month helping to care for the public gardens. The gardens and orchard are maintained by plot holders and volunteers. Everyone can visit and enjoy the gardens. Wangarĩ Gardens is not directly connected to the Green Belt Movement or the Wangarĩ Maathai Foundation, but it was inspired by Wangarĩ Maathai and her work for the environment.

On September 25, 2013, the Wangarĩ Maathai Trees and Garden was dedicated on the lawn of the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning. The memorial includes two red maple trees that represent Maathai’s commitment to the environment, her founding of the Green Belt Movement, and her connections to Kenya and Pittsburgh. A flower garden is planted in a circle to show her global vision and dedication to helping women and children worldwide. An ornamental maple tree in the center of the garden symbolizes how one small seed can grow into something that changes the world.

In 2014, during what would have been her 50th class reunion, her classmates from Mount St. Scholastica and Benedictine College placed a statue of the Nobel laureate at her alma mater’s campus in Atchison, Kansas. In 2019, when the Westerman Hall of Science and Engineering was renovated, the college added a mural of Maathai and other scientists to the building’s entrance.

In 2015, UNESCO published a graphic novel titled Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement as part of their UNESCO Series on Women in African History. The book is designed for use in classrooms and tells the story of Maathai and the movement she started.

In October 2016, Forest Road in Nairobi was renamed Wangarĩ Maathai Road to honor her efforts to protect forests and public parks through the Green Belt Movement.

In 2019, Time magazine created 89 new covers to celebrate women of the year starting from 1920. Maathai was chosen for the year 2001.

In September 2022, Science Naturally, an educational publisher based in Washington, D.C., included Dr. Maathai in their book Women in Botany as part of the Science Wide Open series for children.

Selected publications

• The Green Belt Movement: Sharing Methods and Experiences. Lantern Books. 2004. ISBN 978-1590560402. ; (1985)
• The Bottom Is Heavy Too: Even with the Green Belt Movement – Fifth Edinburgh Medal Address (1994)
• Bottlenecks of Development in Africa (1995)
• The Canopy of Hope: My Life Campaigning for Africa, Women, and the Environment (2002)
• Unbowed: A Memoir (2006) ISBN 978-0307492333
• Reclaiming Rights and Resources Women, Poverty and Environment (2007)
• Rainwater Harvesting (2008)
• State of the World's Minorities 2008: Events of 2007 (2008)
• The Challenge for Africa. Anchor Books. 2010. ISBN 978-0307390288. ; (2009)
• Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril. (2010) chapter Nelson, Michael P. and Kathleen Dean Moore (eds.). Trinity University Press, ISBN 978-1595340665
• Replenishing the Earth (2010) ISBN 978-0307591142