AU renames African Environment Day in honour of Wangari Maathai

The 18th African Union (AU) summit has renamed the African Environment Day as Wangari Maathai Day, in honour of the late Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

A declaration after the January 29-30 Addis Ababa meeting stated that the "Assembly recognises her unwavering dedication to promoting peace, democracy and human rights in Africa".

The summit also created the “Wangari Maathai Award for Outstanding Achievements in Environment and Biodiversity Conservation” in her honour.

The prize, an attempt to boost conservation efforts, will recognise individuals committed to preserving the environment.
 
Source: http://www.africareview.com/News/AU+honours+environmentalist+Wangari+Maathai+/-/979180/1317862/-/trolpoz/-/index.html

Prof Wangari Maathai dies in Nairobi, aged 71

Listening to the BBC Network Africa radio program this morning, I heard the sad news of the death of Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Prof Wangari Maathai after an illness.

Prof Maathai's life story was the inspiration for this blog and I know she has inspired many people around the world through her indefatigable work on grassroots environmental conservation and national development.

Through her life's work as a university lecturer, environmental conservationist, politician and human rights activist, Prof Wangari Maathai has left behind a rich legacy. We will miss her.

Rest In Peace, Wangari Maathai.

Wangari Maathai named UN peace messenger

From page 6 of the Daily Nation, Wednesday 16 December 2009

Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai yesterday earned the title of United Nations Messenger of Peace. The honour will be conferred at the UN-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Messengers of peace are internationally known figures, who work to raise awareness of UN ideals and activities. Prof Maathai will be focusing in this capacity on climate change and environmental conservation.

Congrats to Prof Maathai on yet another honour!

Another First For Prof Wangari Maathai

Congratulations are in order to Prof Wangari Maathai on yet another first.

Prof Maathai has made history yet again by being the first ever Kenyan to receive Japan's highest honour, the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

The Japanese Government has conferred the highest decoration -- The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun -- to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2004) Wangari Maathai.

A statement from the Japan Embasy in Nairobi said the conferment was in honour of Prof Maathai's significant contribution for raising people's awareness on environmental protection.

"This is the first official decoration ever conferred to a Kenyan citizen by the Government of Japan," read part of the statement.

Maathai's 'Mottainai' campaign, which stressess the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle and repair for environmental protection, has made her popular in Japan.

Source: Page 4 of The Standard, 30 April 2009

Wangari Maathai - Kenya's First Woman Professor

I believe it's only fitting to begin by paying tribute to Wangari Muta Maathai, an indefatigable achiever who bears the honour of being a woman of many firsts. Indeed, she holds pride of place for being Kenya's first woman professor and the first African woman to receive the coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1971, Wangari Maathai became the first woman in East and Central Africa to get a doctorate degree when she was awarded her PhD from the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College of Nairobi (present day University of Nairobi).

She later taught in the University's Department of Veterinary Anatomy, rising to become the head of department in 1976 (again, the first Kenyan woman to achieve this) and associate professor in 1977.

The story of Wangari Maathai's life is marked by trials and triumphs - personal, professional as well as political - which she talks about candidly in her autobiography Unbowed .

Of note is her struggle (together with colleague Vertistine Mbaya) against gender discrimination in the university in the 1970s. At the time, married women lecturers did not receive benefits like house allowance, insurance or pension as did their male counterparts. Reason? They were married so their presumably employed husbands were assumed to be receiving those benefits!

Prof Maathai acknowledges that the situation has since improved. She writes:

Since then, things have changed quite a lot. Now there are quite a few women members of the academic staff at the university and the terms of service have greatly improved for everyone, including women.

Here's more about Wangari Maathai from the blurb of Unbowed:

Born in the Kenyan Highlands, Wangari Maathai was educated in the US before returning to Nairobi to become the first woman in East and Central Africa to gain a doctorate, in 1971. During the mid-seventies she became involved in politics, founding the Green Belt Movement, Kenya's famous environmental and human rights campaigning group. In 2004, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of her campaigns for democracy and environmental reform during the dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi. Now a leading politician, she lives in Nairobi.

In the disputed General Elections of December 2007, Prof Maathai was unsuccessful in her bid to defend her Tetu parliamentary seat. I believe that the main reason for her defeat was that she chose to stick to a principle-based campaign and not ride on the popular PNU-Mwai Kibaki wave that swept across the Central Kenya region.

But all is not lost. Frankly speaking, I think that because of her international acclaim as a Nobel peace laureate, Wangari Maathai is destined for much greater things and should set her sights on further enhancing her image of quality, principled leadership in international forums.

Wangari Maathai has made her mark in history and continues to be a source of inspiration in Kenya, Africa and beyond.