The Wangari Prize
Wangari Maathai with tree sapling (credit: file photo)
Wangari Maathai was a powerful voice for environmental conservation, tree planting, and human dignity in Africa. She was a Kenyan biologist and the first East African women to receive a PhD. Wangari established The Greenbelt Movement empowering women in Kenya to plant trees and she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for these efforts.
Wangari Maathai was a force of nature. In full disclosure, we worked together on reforestation plans for a degraded and largely deforested region of Kenya when I was a restoration consultant for the US Agency for International Development. Wangari was an inspiration, sadly passing away in 2011, and the world has been a poorer place since. In her honor, the Wangari Maathai Award for forest champions was established by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. The goal of the prize was to recognize an extraordinary individual who is working to improve forests and the lives of people who depend upon them.
Wangari Maathai (credit: School of the Environment,Yale)
The most recent recipient was Léonidas Nzigiyimpa from Burundi. He gave his reasons for becoming a 'forest champion' after receiving the Prize in 2019.
Wangari Maathai said she often felt like the little hummingbird in an African fable. The fluttering bird was using its tiny wings to try and put out a forest fire while the other forest creatures watched. In her telling of the tale, she would always end by saying: I do what I can, and that was a great deal. The Wangari Maathai Foundation continues her pioneering environmental work and inspiration. WHB