Later Life

“I am working to make sure we don’t only protect the environment, we also improve governance.” – Professor Wangari Maathai (BrainyQuote, 2014)

(Wangari Maathai and H. E. Pembe Didace Bokiaga, Minister of Environment, Conservation of Nature, Water and Forests for the Democratic Republic of Congo, sign the Forests Now Declaration., 2007)

Wangari Maathai started the Green Belt Movement (GBM) after her observation of the soil in the countryside being eroded by rain and thus affecting the community there through harming the crops and lesser food for their animals.

She was offered the job of bringing together the GBM after a rough patch in her life which left her with almost nothing, save for a place to stay. The GBM movement was supported by the United Nations but was also halted by the government who subdued it, making further engagement difficult.

The Kenyan government in 1989, had decided to build a building of 60 floors with the cost of 200 million dollars. Wangari thought that the project was a waste of resources and determinedly opposed it by writing to officials, companies and journalists abroad. Due to this attempt, the GBM got thrown out and had to temporary remain in Wangari’s house. After much effort, the government finally aborted the project and Kenya’s politics took a turn towards the democratic system.

In the year 1990, men were imprisoned due to a pro democracy rally that the government did not approve of. Wangari, yet again, along with a group of mothers, set out to demand these young men be released and threatened to starve themselves. However, the whole group was hurt when the police attacked. Fortunately, the men were allowed to leave.

She then travelled the world to circulate the corruptions and cruelty of the Kenyan government.

When Wangari found out about the government’s plan to give away part of the Karura forest for the construction of private housing, she gathered her followers and proceeded to fight against the police and builders. As this issue became internationally known, the Kenyan government got progressively more violent, even to the extend of seriously injuring Wangari.

In 2002, the country was at long last, democratic.