“Even if I were certain that the world would end tomorrow, I would plant a tree this very day.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Laying the Roots of Change in Africa

“I don’t really know why I care so much. I just have something inside me that tells me that there is a problem, and I have got to do something about it.”

Wangari Maathai is definitely a woman of action. For nearly 30 years, the first woman in eastern or central Africa to receive a doctorate degree has led the Green Belt Movement, a group she founded in the 1970s to address deforestation problems in Kenya. And at 60 years, Wangari Maathai is still going strong.

All around Kenya, deforestation is causing biodiversity loss, soil erosion, deteriorating water quality, loss of fuel wood for home fires, and a variety of other environmental and social problems. The Green Belt Movement aims to address the problems of deforestation by involving women in reforestation programs. It employs thousands of women who raise seedlings that are distributed for free to groups or individuals who demonstrate that they can care for the growing trees. The Green Belt Movement reports that more than 7 million trees have survived.

Dr. Maathai hopes the group has other benefits beyond the environmental benefits of reforesting Kenya with native species. By employing women, the group is trying to provide a forum in which women can become effective leaders in their own communities. And it hopes to provide a model that other countries can use to involve communities in protecting their environment, especially by focusing on actions that will help both people and biodiversity. After all, Dr. Maathai notes, “We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own.”