News

In celebration of the “Green” Olympics in Beijing, I agreed to be a torch bearer to honor and support the athletes of the world who demonstrate the triumph of the human spirit.

Listen to Wangari Maathai speak to David Frost about Kenya on Al Jazeera.

Amnesty International have organised a day of public and online action to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Kenya and call on the Kenyan government to protect people from politically-motivated and ethnic violence.

Wangari Maathai's autobiography is now available, auf Deutsch. Entitled, Afrika, Mein Leben: Erinnerungen einer Unbeugsamen, the publisher is Dumont, and can be ordered here.

Wangari Maathai's autobiography is now available in Greek and Finnish.

Former United Nations boss Kofi Annan who is making crucial strides in the mediation process here has a full day Friday, according to a schedule of appointments released to the media a few minutes ago.

Wangari Maathai speaks about the political clashes in Kenya on CNN

Training sessions on the theme of gender and equality took place in Kenya in October 2007. 60 participants - ranging from policy makers to volunteers - shared experiences and opinions in workshops aiming to build on GBM's Women for Change Programme.

Asked what breakthrough would best advance the fight against climate change, leading environment figures including Wangari Maathai responded with a variety of ideas as delegates gather in Bali.

Wangari Maathai was profiled on NBC Nightly News in the U.S. You can read the transcript here.

Wangari Maathai was profiled on Sunday 11th November's PBS television show Religion and Ethics News Weekly. Click here to watch the program or read a transcript.

Unbowed has won the Hurston-Wright Award for nonfiction, awarded by the Hurston-Wright Foundation.

Formidable! Unbowed is now available in French. Click here for more information and to purchase the book.

Random House's readers' group guide to Unbowed is now available. Click here.

Wangari Maathai's autobiography has reached number 27 on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of October 7, 2007.

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Wangari Maathai has been awarded an honorary doctorate in science from Egerton University, a public university in Kenya.

Unbowed has been nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award by The Hurston/Wright Foundation.

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Gordon Brown, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has told BBC radio that Unbowed by Wangari Maathai is one of his top five most favorite books.

News Flash—Plant a Tree with the Green Belt Movement and one of the world’s largest mobile phone company: Telenor.

The women recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize have said that they intend to use their collective voice to advocate for a more prolific role for women in securing peace and combating violence around the globe.

At the Nobel Women's Initiative first conference, six Peace prize winners including Wangari Maathai signed a statement on a proposed law which will allow oil revenues to flow out of Iraq under the control of US oil corporations.

Norcross, Georgia, USA, and Nairobi, Kenya: Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging is donating software to GBM to support tree planting activities and community development in Africa.

Wangari Maathai's autobiography, Unbowed, is now available in Spain. Published by Lumen, a division of Random House Mondadori, the book is entitled "Con La Cabeza Bien Alta," or "With Head Held High."

To mark the World Environment Day, the Green Belt Movement, Kenya Forest Service and others planted at least 4,000 trees at the shores of Lake Olbollosat.

Wangari Maathai will host a meeting aimed at mobilizing African civil society to elect leaders to advance policy making within the African Union (AU) in her capacity as presiding officer of ECOSOCC.

According to a story in The Nation, dated May 23, 2007, Wangari Maathai has urged Africans to plant a billion trees.

Redlands, California— Wangari Maathai and GBM are to participate in this year’s Geographic Information System (GIS) event of the year, in San Diego, California, June 18-22 2007.

Wangari Maathai gave a speech at the 82nd District Conference and Assembly of Rotary district 9200, at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda. To read the speech, click here.

David Frost interviewed Wangari Maathai for 'Frost over the World' on Al Jazeera TV in February.

Prof. Wangari Maathai has been awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award by the President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam.

The UK government yesterday announced that it will donate 50 million pounds to protect the Congo Basin Rainforest Ecosystem under the leadership of Wangari Maathai and former Canadian premier, Paul Martin. For more information about this, click here.

Wangari Maathai addresses the President and people of India as well as the India Council of Cultural Relations and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation during a reception held in her honor. For the text of this speech, click here.

Listen to Wangari Maathai on Open Democracy's weekly podcast

In the first part of a two-part interview, host Steve Curwood catches up with Wangari Maathai about her most recent work and about some of the events that helped shape her vision.

The World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO) is a global association of NGOs.

Booklist, the journal of the American Library Association, has listed Unbowed among the top ten women's history books for 2007.

This compelling autobiography is published by William Heinemann.

Wangari Maathai was the guest on the February 1st edition of Wisconsin Public Radio's "Here on Earth."

The Sierra Club magazine picks Wangari's autobiography as the Jan/Feb discussion book.

Wangari Maathai's autobiography has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award, in the Outstanding Work of Literature (Autobiography and Biography) section.

Wangari Maathai appeared on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman. Click here to listen.

Wangari Maathai's autobiography, Unbowed, is now available in
Italy, published by Sperling & Kupfer.

You can hear Wangari Maathai's speech at the World Affairs Council in October 2006, by clicking here.

You can listen to Wangari Maathai's interview on WBUR Boston by clicking here.

The East African reported on November 14 that Wangari Maathai wants the African continent to protect its rich biodiversity by discouraging exotic plants.

You can listen to Wangari Maathai on KALW (San Francisco) by clicking here.

You can listen to Wangari Maathai talk about her autobiography, Unbowed, on BookCast by clicking here.

To see video of Wangari Maathai's recent talk at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley, California, click here.

Wangari Maathai appeared on The Charlie Rose show on November 6.

Wangari Maathai announces the Billion Tree Campaign organized by the United Nations Environment Program.

Back in Kenya after a month-long book and speaking tour of the U.S., Wangari Maathai is meeting with government and NGO delegations at UN climate negotiations in Nairobi.

Wangari Maathai gave the keynote address at the 10th anniversary Colloquium for Women of Indiana University.

Wangari Maathai is elected an honorary member of the Society of American Foresters.

Wangari Maathai has received an honorary doctorate in Public Service from the University of Pittsburgh.

You can now listen to Terry Gross's interview on Fresh Air by clicking here.

Watch the NECN Good Morning Live interview by clicking here.

Wangari Maathai spoke this morning about the rewards of public service to students and faculty at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

Wangari Maathai addresses packed house with Boston's Mayor and state Commissioner of Conservation in attendance.

Wangari Maathai was the featured speaker at the Dallas Women's Foundation's annual luncheon.

You can now listen to Leonard Lopate's interview on his show on WNYC by clicking here.

Wangari Maathai has been honored by the University of Pennsylvania with the Medal for Distinguished Achievement.

You can now listen to Marty Moss-Coane's interview with Wangari Maathai on "Radio Times" on WHYY.

Listings of upcoming media appearances featuring Wangari Maathai or the Green Belt Movement are now available on this website.

Wangari Maathai kicked off the worldwide launch of her autobiography, Unbowed in Nyeri, central Kenya today.

Spain's Basque Government will plant 232,000 trees to neutralize carbon monoxide emissions, under an agreement where Green Belt Movement will carry out a three-year re-afforestation project in Kenya.

A keen first-time triathlete completed the Olympic length London Triathlon to raise money for the Green Belt Movement.

Wangari Maathai headlined a roundtable discussion at the Second Conference of Intellectuals of Africa the Diaspora (II CIAD) in Bahia, Brazil on Friday July 14, 2006 at the invitation of the Brazilian president.

Wangari Maathai will be attending the 2nd Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and Diaspora in Bahia, Brazil from July 12th-July 15th.

Wangari Maathai will be one of 22 Nobel Peace Prize winners gathering in Gwangju in Korea from June 15 to 17.

Wangari Maathai is introducing a series of radio programs about land rights for BBC World Service. The first one concerns South Africa.

Laurie David talks about the inspiring meeting she had with Wangari Maathai at a dinner in California recently. Click here.

Wangari Maathai was profiled by Leah Garchik of the San Francisco Chronicle when the former gave a speech at the Goldman Prize dinner.

Wangari Maathai will address the recent winners of the Goldman Prize at a gala event in San Francisco.

Wangari Maathai has led a march in Nairobi to protest the murder of an HIV-positive boy who lived in her constituency.

Nobel laureate Prof Wangari Maathai spent Easter Monday with HIV/Aids patients from her constituency. Maathai met over the 80 people to lay strategies on how to tackle the issue of children orphaned by the disease.

Nobel Peace laureate Prof Wangari Maathai is not yet ready to take up her position, five months after she was named assistant minister.

Wangari Maathai will be appearing on CNN this Saturday for the previously taped Inside Africa show. The show will air at 12:30pm and 7:30pm, Eastern Time.

In the wake of the plane crash that killed several Kenyan members of parliament and others on their way to mediate conflict in northern Kenya, Wangari Maathai yesterday expressed her sadness at their death.

Wangari Maathai will be featured on American Public Media's Speaking of Faith, in a program entitled "Planting the Future: A Conversation with Wangari Maathai.”

Wangari Maathai has been honored by the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund on Thursday, April 6. SHe received a $100,000 grant from the Fund on behalf of the Green Belt Movement.

Wangari Maathai today received the prestigious Legion D'Honneur, the most senior Order in France.

Inspired by the visionary work of Dr. Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement, Shaklee has announced that it will implement a tree-planting campaign to celebrate Earth Day 2006 across the United States and Canada.

Wangari Maathai visited the Starbucks Coffee Company headquarters on March 14, 2006. Dr. Maathai arranged the visit to learn about Starbucks’ fair trade practices.

Wangari Maathai was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Third Annual Human Rights and Democracy Award, held in Nairobi, Kenya.

During her visit to Japan, Wangari Maathai has received an honorary degree from Waseda University.

Wangari Maathai was one of eight women who carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Wangari Maathai, the presiding officer of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the Africa Union (ECOSOCC), has announced the organization's first general meeting to be held on January 31, 2006.

Yahoo! News offers extensive photo coverage of Wangari Maathai after Oslo.

President Kibaki has gone ahead and sworn in members of his new Cabinet without some of his appointees, among them the 2005 Nobel Peace laureate Prof Wangari Maathai.

Wangari Maathai spoke to renowned talk-show host Brian Lehrer on WNYC, one of New York City's public radio stations. Click here for more details.

Wangari Maathai talks about Africa's future with National Geographic magazine. To hear the audio, click here.

Wangari Maathai is featured in an article entitled "Calling the Power of Women" in the October 2005 issue of Spirituality & Health magazine.

Top of the list is Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State; Wu Yi, China's Vice Premier, minister of health; Julia Tymoshenko Ukraine's Prime minister; and Gloria Arroyo, Philippines President.

In attendance to hear the lecture at Nelson Mandela's 87th birthday celebrations (from July 11 to 23) will be Desmond Tutu and Bill Clinton. For more information, click here.

Recent violence between clans fighting over grazing areas in Kenya's arid east and north has drawn condemnation from Wangari Maathai.

Wangari Maathai is joining world leaders such as Tony Blair and George Bush, and activists such as Bob Geldof and Bono at the meeting of the G8 in Gleneagles, Scotland.

Wangari Maathai speaks at the African Union meeting in Sirte, Libya, on debt relief. Reported by Reuters. Click here for the article.

Wangari Maathai is interviewed on the BBC talking about Africa and the G8. Click here for video link.

Wangari Maathai is featured in an hour-long documentary on Public Radio's Living on Earth radio program. Click here to listen.

Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, of Kenya, delivered a keynote address at the annual Rotary International Convention in Chicago on 22 June, 2005.

Wangari Maathai appeared on The Connection, on WBUR Public Radio Station, with host Dick Gordon. To listen to the show, click here.

Prof. Wangari Maathai represented the Nobel Peace Laureates at the historic opening of The Nobel Peace Center in Oslo.

NEW YORK—The New York Women’s Foundation presented Wangari Maathai with its Century Award at a breakfast attended by 2,000 people (mostly women) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on May 12th.

Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, Congressman John Lewis, and super-producer, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds are among the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation's (NCBCP) 2005 Spirit Of Democracy Award recipients.

WASHINGTON, DC – Hon. Prof. Wangari Maathai, on her first official visit to Washington, DC since being awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, met with leaders of the major development agencies, senior members of the Bush Administration and members of civil society.

The first meeting of the African Union’s (AU) Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) is taking place in Nairobi from 22nd to 24th April, presided over by Prof. Wangari Maathai.

View video of Prof. Maathai speaking on empowering women and the joy of giving.

Wangari Maathai's publishing juggernaut continues with the announcement of an autobiography.

Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai has been elected first president of the African Union's interim general assembly of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council.

On March 8, 2005, Wangari Maathai spoke at Cooper Union in New York City. Click here to see a slide show of the memorable evening.

View a slide show documenting the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony honoring Professor Wangari Maathai in Oslo, December 2004. All photos by Ricardo Medina, used with permission.

Wangari Maathai wowed the congregation at the White Plains Presbyterian Church in Westchester County, New York on Sunday.

Wangari Maathai will be on Al Franken's show on Air America on March 7th and on Amy Goodman's Democracy Now on March 8th. Check local listings for details.

The Cooper Union event is shaping up to being a multimedia extravaganza.

Wangari Maathai was in San Francisco from March 1 to 3, 2005, attending a number of events.

Wangari Maathai was on the Michael Krasny show on KQED Public Radio in San Francisco.

BBC Report on a United Nations Environment Program conference in Nairobi features Wangari Maathai.

Wangari Maathai was interviewed on NOW! with David Brancaccio on PBS Channel 13.

Wangari Maathai has accepted a public invitation by Congolese President Denis Sassou Ngeuso to be the roving Ambassador for the Congo Basin.

Live webcast: Wangari Maathai addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Click here for more information.

Wangari Maathai appeared on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer. Click here for more.

Wangari Maathai is on tour through Europe and Asia from January 22nd through February 28th, 2005.

Wangari Maathai has launched a campaign in Kenya to help raise funds for the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Asian tsumani disaster.

Environmental activists have called on President Mwai Kibaki to promote Wangari Maathai, according to Marc Lacey of the New York Times.