Skip to main content

Credo: Wangari Maathai

Founder of Green Belt Movement and Nobel Peace Prize winner, 69
Interview by Adam Jacques
Sunday, 21 June 2009

When I started the Green Belt Movement [an NGO that combats deforestation by training rural Kenyan women to plant trees] in 1977, I was starting a small project. But it moved from one step to another. We've since planted more than 30 million trees [earning Maathai a Nobel Prize]. It's been very surprising.

It is in the interests of the developed world to help Africa adapt to climate change. People from poor regions are not going to sit there and die of starvation; there will be large migrations of people seeking a new life in the developed world.

Africa isn't just asking for help; she has something on the table, too, in the way of carbon management: the Congo forest is a huge carbon sink. But international companies are logging there, as the government needs the money. If it had another revenue source, this would stop.

You cannot get rid of poverty, improve quality of life and eliminate diseases without taking care of the environment, so you can have adequate food and clean drinking water.

Being a woman in Kenyan politics has meant I have not been able to do as much as I wanted. Men are quick to tell the voters you can't do as much as they can.

Serving others is the greatest thing one can do with one's life. I have been able to make a difference in people's lives. Even to plant a tree that will be growing long after you are gone is very satisfying.

I'm an optimist. I'm always hopeful and working for change, and I'm sure sooner or later a new horizon will beckon.

It's important to forget everything for a moment. It's easy when busy to forget you have a body, not a machine, and it needs replenishment. Resting, going to the gym and basking in the sun are some of the moments when I can relax.

'The Challenge for Africa' by Wangari Maathai (Heinemann, £20) is out now


source: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/credo-wangari-maathai-1707694.html




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ASEAN pushes for resumption of N. Korea nuke talks

ASEAN and friends: Foreign Ministers from left, Vietnam's Pham Gia Khiem, South Korea's Kim Sung-hwan, Japan's Takeaki Matsumoto, Indonesia's Marty Natalegawa, and China's Yang Jiechi, hold hands during a group photo at the opening session of ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Thursday. (AP/Dita Alangkara) Associated Press, Nusa Dua | Thu, 07/21/2011 2:19 PM Foreign ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations are calling for a speedy resumption of talks aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Russia had been negotiating since 2003 to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle the program in exchange for aid and other concessions. The North pulled out of the talks about two years ago after being censured for launching a long-range rocket. It has indicated a willingness in recent months to return to the table. The 10-member Association of Southeast As...
Post a Comment
Read more

Army: Gunmen kill Indonesia soldier in Papua

 Associated Press, Jayapura | Thu, 07/21/2011 6:47 PM An army officer says unidentified gunmen have ambushed Indonesia soldiers and killed one of them in the easternmost province of Papua. The chief army officer in Papua says soldiers are still searching for the gunmen. Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu said the ambush Thursday morning happened outside a village in the hilly district of Puncak Jaya. Triassunu said the victim was a first private killed by a shot to his head. No information was available on the other soldiers. The attack occurred one day after a military tribunal indicted three low-ranking soldiers for killing a civilian in Puncak Jaya last year. Papua is a former Dutch colony incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot. A small, poorly armed separatist movement has battled for independence ever since.
Post a Comment
Read more