Maathai wangari biography of albert

Her campaign against land grabbing and the allocation of forestland has received much attention both in Kenya and abroad. One of her most memorable undertakings is the struggle to save Uhuru Park in s and Karura Forest in s. Professor Maathai clearly demonstrated her resolve to protect our environment at all costs - including paying with her own life.

Maathai wangari biography of albert: Professor Wangari Muta Maathai was born

That kind of sacrifice reflects a lot of courage, faith in her mission, patriotism and love for mankind. Besides founding and coordinating the Green Belt Movement, Professor Wangari Maathai has been playing crucial roles in a host of other organizations. She also served as a director of the Kenya Red Cross On March 28,she was elected the first president of the African Union's Economic, Social and Cultural Council and was appointed a goodwill ambassador for an initiative aimed at protecting the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem.

In she was one of the eight flag bearers at the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Also on May 21,she was awarded an honorary doctorate by and gave the commencement address at Connecticut College. She supported the International Year of Deserts and Desertification program. Six women representing North America and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa decided to bring together their experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality.

In JuneProfessor Maathai was elected by Earth Times as one of persons in the World who have made a difference in the environmental arena. She was elected to Kenya's National Assembly in and has written several books and scholarly articles. She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her "holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and women's rights in particular.

Her father supported the family working as a tenant farmer. At this time, Kenya was still a British colony. Maathai's family decided to send her to school, which was uncommon for girls to be educated at this time. She started at a local primary school when she was 8 years old. She won a scholarship in to go to college in the United States.

Maathai attended Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas, where she earned a bachelor's degree in biology in Maathai believed this to be false and illegal, and brought the matter to court. The court was to meet at nine in the morning, and if she received a favorable ruling, was required to present her candidacy papers in Nyeri by three in the afternoon that day.

The judge disqualified her from running on a technicality: as before, they claimed she should have re-registered to vote. As she lived in university housing and was no longer a staff member, she was evicted. Maathai became the coordinator. Along with the partnership with the Norwegian Forestry Society, the movement had also received "seed money" from the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Women.

These funds allowed for the expansion of the movement, for hiring additional employees to oversee the operations, and for continuing to pay a small stipend to the women who planted seedlings throughout the country. It allowed her to refine the operations of the movement, paying a small stipend to the women's husbands and sons who were literate and able to keep accurate records of seedlings planted.

During the conference, Maathai arranged seminars and presentations to describe the work the Green Belt Movement was doing in Kenya. She escorted delegates to see nurseries and plant trees.

Maathai wangari biography of albert: Wangari Maathai was the founder of

The conference helped to expand funding for the Green Belt Movement and led to the movement's establishing itself outside Kenya. Forty-five representatives from fifteen African countries travelled to Kenya over the next three years to learn how to set up similar programs in their own countries to combat desertification, deforestation, water crises, and rural hunger.

The attention the movement received in the media led to Maathai's being honored with numerous awards. The government of Kenya, however, demanded that the Green Belt Movement separate from the NCWK, believing the latter should focus solely on women's issues, not the environment. Therefore, inMaathai stepped down as chairperson of the NCWK and focused on the newly separate non-governmental organisation.

The single-party regime opposed many of the movement's positions regarding democratic rights. The government invoked a colonial-era law prohibiting groups of more than nine people from meeting without a government license. Inthe Green Belt Movement carried out pro-democracy activities such as registering voters for the election and pressing for constitutional reform and freedom of expression.

The government carried out electoral fraud in the elections to maintain power, according to Maathai. The complex was intended to house the headquarters of KANU, the Kenya Times newspaper, a trading center, offices, an auditorium, galleries, shopping malls, and parking spaces for 2, cars. The plan also included a large statue of President Daniel Arap Moi.

Maathai wrote many letters in protest to, among others, the Kenya Times, the Office of the President, the Nairobi city commission, the provincial commissioner, the minister for environment and natural resources, the executive directors of UNEP and the Environment Liaison Centre International, the executive director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCOthe ministry of public works, and the permanent secretary in the department of international security and administration all received letters.

She wrote to Sir John Johnson, the British high commissioner in Nairobi, urging him to intervene with Robert Maxwella major shareholder in the project, equating the construction of a tower in Uhuru Park to such construction in Hyde Park or Central Park and maintaining that it could not be tolerated. The government refused to respond to her inquiries and protests, instead responding through the media that Maathai was "a crazy woman"; that denying the project in Uhuru Park would take more than a small portion of public parkland; and proclaiming the project as a "fine and magnificent work of architecture" opposed by only the "ignorant few".

On 8 NovemberParliament expressed outrage at Maathai's actions, complaining of her letters to foreign organisations and calling the Green Belt Movement a bogus organisation and its members "a bunch of divorcees". They suggested that if Maathai was so comfortable writing to Europeans, perhaps she should go live in Europe. Maathai sought an injunction in the Kenya High Court to halt construction, but the case was thrown out on 11 December.

In his first public comments peonhe project, President Daniel Arap Moi stated that those who opposed the project had "insects in their heads".

Maathai wangari biography of albert: Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan

On 12 December, in Uhuru Park, during a speech celebrating independence from the British, President Moi suggested Maathai be a proper woman in the African tradition and respect men and be quiet. The government audited the Green Belt Movement in an apparent attempt to shut it down. Despite the government's efforts, her protests and the media coverage the government's response garnered led foreign investors to cancel the project in January Maathai's name was on the list.

The pro-democracy group, known as the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy FORDpresented its information to the media, calling for a general election. Later that day, Maathai received a warning that one of their members had been arrested. Maathai decided to barricade herself in her home. Shortly thereafter, police arrived and surrounded the house.

Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansasa Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburghand pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before obtaining a Ph. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in and respectively.

In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region. Professor Maathai was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya — and was its chairman —