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 Re: Rest in Peace Wangari Maathai (Re: nada ali)
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AWID Deeply Saddened By The Loss Of Dr. Wangari Maathai, A Pioneer In The Environment And Women’s Rights Movements
Source: AWID 27/09/2011
Today, we mourn the loss of a dear colleague and trailblazer in the social justice, women’s rights, and environmental movements in Africa and globally, Dr. Wangari Maathai.
Maathai takes a walk in the Newlands forest in Cape Town, South Africa in 2005 - The Independent (EPA)
Dr. Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1977, which educated and mobilized thousands of rural women into planting trees and protecting the environment. The movement has until today planted over 45 million trees around Kenya. She was a pioneer in establishing the concept of sustainable development, and creating a framework of environmental protection that located women’s lives and livelihoods at its heart. Dr. Maathai’s work and perspective are a testimony to holistic development models that integrally link environmental justice to broader social, political, and economic rights, including women’s rights. In Dr. Maathai’s own words, “In the process of education that takes place when someone joins the Green Belt Movement, women have become aware that planting trees or fighting to save forests from being chopped down is part of a larger mission to create a society that respects democracy, decency, adherence to the rule of law, human rights, and the rights of women.”
Among her many stellar achievements, Dr. Maathai was a leader who opened the door for women in many avenues. She was a woman of many firsts. She was the first woman in East and Central Africa to receive a Ph.D. in 1971 and become a Professor and Department Chair at the University in Kenya. In 2002 she served as a Member of Parliament and then Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Environment in Kenya and in 2004 was the first African woman and environmentalist to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Today, AWID would like to specially commemorate the immense contribution of Dr. Maathai’s work to the advancement of women’s rights. She was a formidable voice in highlighting the gendered impact of environmental destruction on the lives of poor rural women in the global South. Dr. Maathai not only empowered grassroots women to take the lead on environmental protection but she also informed the world about the crucial role women already play in protecting the environment and implementing alternative models of development that are sustainable and environmentally and socially just. She additionally opened important avenues for women’s participation in crucial global environmental decision-making platforms like the debates on climate change.
“In the current context of a broad systemic crisis of food, energy and the environment, heightened inequality and propagation of unsustainable global development models, Dr. Maathai will be deeply missed for her pioneering work and brilliance by women’s rights advocates around the world. She was an inspiration to many of us and will be constantly remembered as we strive to place women’s rights at the centre of decision-making in the global environmental and sustainable development arenas,” says Lydia Alpizar, Executive Director of AWID.
To read a message from the Green Belt Movement or for information on how you can support the memorial fund please visit www.greenbeltmovement.org. Additionally there have been suggestions amongst some women's groups and activists that an appropriate memorial would be for us each to plant a tree in memory of Dr. Maathai.
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nada ali
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