Board Member

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. She is the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Professor Maathai also obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964).  She subsequently earned a Master Degree of Science from the University of Pittsburgh (1966) and a  Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi. She became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region.  Professor Maathai was active in the National Council for Women of Kenya from 1976 till 1987 and she became its chair from 1981 till 1987. While she served the National Council for Women, she introduced the idea of planting trees with local communities in 1976. She continued to develop this idea into a broad-based, grassroots organization The Green Belt Movement (GBM) whose main focus is planting trees with women groups in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life.  Through GBM she has assisted women in planting more than 30 million trees on community lands including farms, schools and church compounds. In 1986, Professor Maathai established a Pan African Green Belt Network and has exposed over 40 individuals from other African counties to the approach.. Professor Maathai is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. Together with the Green Belt Movement, she has received numerous awards, most notably the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. In April 2006, President of France, Mr. Jacques Chirac honoured Professor Maathai with France’s highest honour “Legion d’Honneur”.  The decoration ceremony took place in Paris in April 2006 and was presided over by The Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development, Madam Nelly Olin. Professor Maathai serves on the boards of organisations including the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament, the Jane Goodall Institute, Women and Environment Development Organization (WEDO), World Learning for International Development, Green Cross International, Environment Liaison Centre International, the Worldwide Network of Women in Environmental Work, and the National Council for Women of Kenya. In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to the parliament and subsequently appointed by the President, as Assistant Minister for Environment in Kenya's ninth parliament. In 2005, Professor Maathai was elected the Presiding Officer of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which will be an advisory organ to the African Union on the issues related to the African civil society. Eleven (11) Heads of States, whose countries are on the Congo Basin, also appointed her as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem. Her role is to advocate the conservation and protection of the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem.