Wangari Maathai (born April 1, 1940; died September 25, 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist. She started the Green Belt Movement, a nonprofit group that works to plant trees, protect the environment, and support women’s rights. In 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

She was helped by the Kennedy Airlift program, which allowed her 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 degree from the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In 1984, she received the Right Livelihood Award for leading efforts to involve many people in restoring forests in Kenya.

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 contributed to discussions about ecology, development, gender, African cultures, and religions. She passed away on September 25, 2011, due to complications from 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 years. Around 1943, her family moved to a white-owned farm in the Rift Valley near Nakuru, where her father found work. In late 1947, she returned to Ihithe with her mother because two of her brothers were attending primary 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 eleven, 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 joined the Legion of Mary, a group whose members try to serve God by helping others. While at St. Cecilia's, she was protected from the Mau Mau uprising, which forced her mother to leave their home and move to an emergency village in Ihithe. In 1956, she graduated first in her class and was admitted to Loreto High School, the only Catholic high school for girls in Kenya, located in Limuru.

As British 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, agreed to fund this effort 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 supported by the Africa-America Institute. While in Pittsburgh, she first saw efforts to clean up the environment, as local activists worked to reduce air pollution. In January 1966, she received her MSc degree in biological sciences and was hired as a research assistant at the University College of Nairobi.

Upon returning to Kenya, Maathai chose to be called by her birth name, Wangarĩ Muta. When she arrived at the university to start her job, she learned it had been given to someone else. She believed this was because of 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, at the suggestion of Professor Hofmann, she traveled to the University of Giessen in Germany to pursue a doctorate. She studied at Giessen and the University of Munich. In 1969, she returned to Nairobi to work as an assistant lecturer at the University College of Nairobi. 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 campaign, Tom Mboya, who had helped fund Maathai’s education in the United States, was assassinated. This event led President Kenyatta to end multi-party democracy in Kenya. Shortly after, her first son, Waweru, was born. In 1971, Maathai became the first woman from Eastern Africa to earn a Ph.D., her doctorate in veterinary anatomy, from the University College of Nairobi, which became the University of Nairobi the following year. Her dissertation focused on the development and differentiation of gonads in bovines. Her daughter, Wanjira, was born in December 1971.

Activism and political life

Wangari Maathai continued to teach at the University of Nairobi. In 1975, she became a senior lecturer in anatomy. In 1976, she was named chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy. In 1977, she became an 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 did not allow this, but many of her demands for equal benefits were later met. In addition to her university work, Maathai joined several community groups in the early 1970s. She became a member of the Nairobi branch of the Kenya Red Cross Society and was its director in 1973. She also joined the Kenya Association of University Women. In 1974, after the Environment Liaison Centre was created, Maathai became a member of its local board and later its chair. The Environment Liaison Centre helped non-governmental organizations work with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which had its headquarters in Nairobi after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972. 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’s family grew when her third child, a son named Muta, was born. Her husband ran for a seat in Parliament to represent the Lang’ata constituency and won. He had promised to create jobs to reduce unemployment in Kenya. These promises inspired Maathai to connect her ideas about restoring the environment with efforts to help the unemployed. This led to the creation of Envirocare Ltd., a company that planted trees to protect the environment and involved local people in the work. This effort began with the planting of a tree nursery in Karura Forest, which was located near a government nursery. Envirocare faced many challenges, especially with funding, and eventually failed. However, discussions about Envirocare and her work with the Environment Liaison Centre helped UNEP send Maathai to the first UN conference on human settlements, called Habitat I, in June 1976.

In 1977, Maathai shared her experience at Habitat I with the NCWK. She suggested more tree planting, which the council supported. On June 5, 1977, which was World Environment Day, the NCWK held a procession from Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi to Kamukunji Park on the city’s outskirts. There, they planted seven trees to honor community leaders. This event marked the beginning of the Green Belt Movement. Maathai encouraged Kenyan women to plant tree nurseries across the country. She collected seeds from nearby forests to grow trees native to the area. She offered women a small payment for each seedling they planted elsewhere.

In her 2010 book, Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World, Maathai discussed the Green Belt Movement. She wrote that the group’s seminars emphasized the importance of communities taking responsibility for their actions and working together to solve local problems. She also stated that people should work hard to improve their neighborhoods, regions, and countries, and to make positive changes worldwide. In the book, she connected environmental ideas with religious traditions, including the Kikuyu religion and Christianity, using them to support environmental activism.

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 for a woman” and said he could not control her. In court, he called her “cruel” and accused her of having an affair with another member of Parliament. This accusation was believed to have caused his high blood pressure. The judge ruled in Mwangi’s favor. Soon after, Maathai criticized the judge in an interview with Viva magazine. This led the judge to charge her with contempt of court. She was found guilty and sentenced to six months in jail. After spending three days in Lang’ata Women’s Prison in Nairobi, her lawyer provided a statement that convinced the court to release her. Shortly after the divorce, her former husband asked her to remove his surname from her name. Instead, she added an extra “a” to her name.

The divorce was expensive, and with legal costs and the loss of her husband’s income, Maathai struggled to support herself and her children on her university salary. An opportunity arose to work for the Economic Commission for Africa through the United Nations Development Programme. This job required travel across Africa and was based in Lusaka, Zambia. Because of this, Maathai could not bring her children with her. She sent them to live with her ex-husband and took the job. She visited them regularly, and they lived with their father until 1985.

In 1979, shortly after the divorce, Maathai ran for chairperson of the NCWK, a group that included many women’s organizations in Kenya. At the time, Kenya’s new president, Daniel arap Moi, tried to reduce the influence of people from the Kikuyu ethnic group in volunteer groups like the NCWK. Maathai lost the election by three votes but was chosen as vice-chairperson. In 1980, she ran again for chairperson. She believed the government opposed her. When it became clear she would win, a group called Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, which represented many rural women and was close to President Moi, left the NCWK. Maathai was then elected chairperson 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 continued to be reelected as chairperson every year until she retired in 1987.

In 1982, the parliamentary seat representing Maathai’s home region of Nyeri became available. She decided to run for the position and resigned from her job at the University of Nairobi to campaign. The courts ruled she was not eligible to run because she had not re-registered to vote in the 1979 presidential election. Maathai believed this was false and illegal, so she took the matter to court. The court was to meet at 9 a.m., and if she won, she needed to submit her candidacy papers in Nyeri by 3 p.m. that day. The judge disqualified her on a technicality, saying she should have re-registered to vote. When she asked for her job back, it was denied. Since she lived in university housing

2004 Nobel Peace Prize

Wangarĩ Maathai received the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in helping to create sustainable development, support democracy, and promote peace. She was the first African woman to win this important award. According to Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize is given to the person who, in the previous year, has done the most or best work to encourage friendship between countries, reduce military forces, and support peace meetings. From 1901 to 2018, 52 Nobel Prize awards were given to women, while 852 were given to men. Through her important efforts, Wangari Maathai became the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the Peace Prize.

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

AIDS conspiracy theory

A controversy happened when the Kenyan newspaper The Standard reported that Maathai said HIV/AIDS was "deliberately created by Western scientists to destroy the African population." Maathai said she did not make these claims, but The Standard continues to support its reports.

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 biological agent. But I know things like that do not come from space. I believe it is important to tell the truth, but some truths should not be shared too openly." When asked what she meant, she added, "I am talking about AIDS. I am certain people know where it came from. I am also 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 to protect the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem. In 2006, she was one of eight people who carried flags at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. On May 21, 2006, she received an honorary doctorate from Connecticut College and gave a speech there. She supported the International Year of Deserts and Desertification program. In November 2006, she led the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign. Maathai helped start the Nobel Women’s Initiative with other Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams, and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. These women from different parts of the world worked together to promote peace, justice, and equality. The goal of the Nobel Women’s Initiative is to support efforts to protect 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 met with Obama and planted a tree with him in Uhuru Park, Nairobi. Obama said, “Press freedom is like tending a garden; it must be cared for constantly. People must value it, or it may be lost if we are not careful.” He criticized global environmental harm, especially President George W. Bush’s refusal 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 and ran for a smaller party instead. She lost the December 2007 parliamentary election. She asked for a vote recount in the presidential election in her area, which was officially won by Mwai Kibaki but disputed by the opposition. She said both sides should believe the outcome was fair and that there were signs of fraud.

In 2009, she wrote a book titled The Challenge for Africa, sharing her views on governance in Africa, her 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 served on the Eminent Advisory Board of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA).

Wangarĩ Maathai died on September 25, 2011, from complications caused by ovarian cancer while being treated 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 focused on forest issues, created 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 person who works to protect forests
• 2019 – Léonidas Nzigiyimpa, a Burundian person who works to protect forests
• 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 over 55 garden plots and covers an area of 2.7 acres. The garden honors the memory 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 who live within 1.5 miles of the garden. People who use personal plots must spend one hour each month helping to care for the public gardens. The gardens and orchard are maintained by plot holders and volunteers. They are open to everyone to enjoy and harvest. Wangarĩ Gardens is not 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 maples that represent Maathai's "commitment to the environment, her founding of the Green Belt Movement, and her roots in Kenya and in Pittsburgh." It also has a flower garden shaped in a circle to show her "global vision and dedication to the women and children of the world," with an ornamental maple tree in the center to symbolize "how one small seed can change the world."

In 2014, Mount St. Scholastica classmates and Benedictine College unveiled a statue of the Nobel laureate at her alma mater's campus in Atchison, Kansas. In 2019, Benedictine College added a mural of Maathai and other scientists to the front of Westerman Hall of Science and Engineering during renovations.

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 from 1920 to 2020. Maathai was chosen for the year 2001.

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

Selected publications

• The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience. Lantern Books. 2004. ISBN 978-1590560402. (1985)
• The bottom is heavy too: even with the Green Belt Movement: the Fifth Edinburgh Medal Address (1994)
• Bottle-necks 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