Wangari Maathai's Legacy

"Each of us can make a difference, and together accomplish what might seem impossible."

Wangari Maathai (1940–2011) was the founder of the Green Belt Movement and the Wangari Maathai Institute. Her life was a series of firsts: the first woman to gain a Ph.D. in East and Central Africa; the first female chair of a department at the University of Nairobi; and the first African woman and the first environmentalist to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2004). Honoured throughout the world for her work for the environment, democracy, and peace, Professor Maathai was the author of four books including her autobiography: Unbowed and the subject of a documentary film, Taking Root.

wangari-maathai/biography