Wangari Maathai - an excerpt from the Nobel Peace Prize
winner's
acceptance speech
As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept
it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa and indeed the whole world.
Although this prize comes to me, it acknowledges the work of countless
individuals and groups across the world. They work quietly and often without
recognition to protect the environment, promote democracy, defend human rights
and ensure equality between women and men. By so doing, they plant the seeds of
peace. I know they too are proud today.
I am also grateful to the people of Kenya who remained
stubbornly hopeful that democracy could be realized and the environment managed
sustainably. I am immensely privileged to join my fellow African Peace Laureates,
President Nelson
Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the late
Chief Albert Lutuli, the late Anwar al-Sadat and UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan. I know that African people everywhere are encouraged by this news. My
fellow Africans, as we embrace this recognition let us use it to intensify our
commitment to our people. Let us embrace democratic governance, protect human
rights and protect our environment. I'm confident that we shall rise to the
occasion. I have always believed that solutions to most of our problems will
have to come from us.
In this year's prize the Norwegian Nobel Committee has placed the
critical issue of environment and its linkage to democracy, and peace before
the world. For their visionary action I am profoundly grateful. Recognizing
that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea
whose time has come.
My inspiration partly comes from my childhood experiences
and observations of nature in rural Kenya. As I was growing up I witnessed
forests being cleared and replaced by commercial plantations which destroyed
local biodiversity and the capacity of forests to conserve water. In 1977 when
we started the Green Belt Movement,
I was partly responding to the needs identified by rural women, namely lack of
firewood, clean drinking water, balanced diets, shelter, and income. Throughout
Africa women are the primary care-takers, holding significant responsibility
for tilling the land and feeding their families. They are often the first to
become aware of environmental damage as resources become scarce and incapable
of sustaining their families.
I came to understand that when the environment is destroyed,
plundered, or mismanaged, we undermine our quality of life and that of our
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. These are all important to sustain interest and commitment. So
together we planted over 30 million trees that provide fuel, food, shelter, and
income to support children and education and household needs. The activity also
creates employment and improves soils and watersheds.
Through their involvement, women gained some degree of power
over their lives, especially their socioeconomic 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 the solutions to
their problems must come from outside. Further, women did not at that time
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, causes and solutions. They then make connections between their
actions and the problems they witness in the environment and in society.
Ms. Maathai is Kenya's Deputy Environment Minister.
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