Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai’s
Green Belt Movement
Grantham University
Written By: Shanice Brooks
Green Belt Movement
Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement has planted over 40 million trees all over Africa. Wangari Maathai was the first African women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her contributions to sustainable development, democracy, and peace and founded of the Green Belt Movement offers a refreshingly unique perspective on the challenges facing Africa. Wangari is loved by the people and she gain respect from them all. She helped and put forth the end to environment degradation. Forest’s need to used more sustainably and the government and individuals can reduce tropical deforestation. Wangari’s Green Belt Movement was the one that bought everyone together so that they can work as a team. Wangari became very important to the people of Kenya, Africa and the international community. There were some issues that Maathai felt strongly about that will affect other’s lives on a daily basis. One of the issues that Maathai is very active on the issue of environmental conservation. Due to her role in the environment and the Green Belt Movement there were more than 20 or 40 million trees that have been planted which lead to other countries to start a tree planting program that help people to care and learn to [plant trees. Women all over the world was helped by the examples that Maathai sets. Maathai has served as an inspiration for many in the fight for democratic rights and has especially encourage women to better their situations. The Green Belt Movement organizes rural women in Kenya to plant trees because some of the people there didn’t really take good care of the trees so they put effort that combats deforestation while they generate income for the community and promoting empowerment for women. Since Maathai founded the GBM over millions of trees have been planted and nearly over 30,000 women have been trained in forestry, food processing, beekeeping, and other sustainable and last is income generating activities. The GBM do have some challenges that they had to face until Maathai stepped in to do what she can do to help Kenya with the GBM and other problems that they have. Lydria Gathii is one of the Green Belt Movement volunteer helper that help the women form groups and show them how to form tree nurseries which do a very good job at helping others. With the poverty that’s going on in Kenya Maathai reducing poverty by opening a Women for change Facility to help young women in Kenya Africa face their sexual and reproductive health problems such as preventing AIDS and HIV. The income that the group of Kenyans have help with the organization by selling their seedlings and being educated about the environment and how to progressively save it. Maathai continuing to reduce poverty in Kenya one day at a time so that they won’t have to worry about anything. After everything that Maathai did for her country she died on September 25, 2011 at the age of 71 after a battle of ovarian cancer all her memories will live on. To use forests in a more sustainable way, humans must make use of quick return woods such as some pines and bamboo. Woodland gardening techniques, reusing wood products and finding wood substitute. Three ways in which governments and individuals can reduce tropical deforestation are supporting Eco- forestry where only the minimal needed trees are cut, recycling papers to reduce the need to cut down trees and using alternative products to wood, such as bamboo, which is a quickly self- replenishing resource with multiple uses. Another thing is to help sustain tropical forests of the world must be united to discourage deforestation and degradation. The effort of slow population growth, decrease/ eliminate world poverty and provide environmentally supportive government that subsidies and reduce the debts owed by the developing countries which place a monetary value on ecological services provided by tropical forests.
Keywords Greenbelt Movement, Nobel Peace Prize, deforestation,)
References
Maathai, Wangari (2004). Greenbelt Movement.
www.greenbeltmovement.org

References: Maathai, Wangari (2004). Greenbelt Movement. www.greenbeltmovement.org