Green Belt Movement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Green Belt Movement is a grassroots non-governmental organization based in Kenya that focuses on environmental conservation, community development and capacity building.
Professor Wangari Maathai established organization in 1977, under the auspices of the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (National Council of Women of Kenya).
The Green Belt Movement organizes poor rural women in Kenya to plant trees, combating deforestation, restoring their main source of fuel for cooking, and stopping soil erosion. Maathai has incorporated advocacy and empowerment for women, eco-tourism, and just economic development into the Green Belt Movement.
Since Maathai started the movement in 1977, over 30 million trees have been planted. Over 30,000 women trained in forestry, food processing, bee-keeping, and other trades that help them earn income while preserving their lands and resources. Communities in Kenya have been motivated and organized to both prevent environmental destruction and restore that which was damaged.
Wangari Maathai received the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, in part, for her work with the Green Belt Movement. Her book, The Green Belt Movement is published by Lantern Books.
[edit] Activism
In 1989 the Movement took on the powerful business associates of President Daniel Arap Moi. A sustained, and often lonely protest, against the construction of a 60-story business complex in the heart of Uhuru Park in Nairobi was launched and won. In 1991 a similar protest was launched that saved Jeevanjee Gardens from the fate of being turned into a multi-story parking lot.
In 1998, the organisation led a crusade against the illegal allocation of parts of the 2,000 acre (8 km²) Karura Forest, a vital water catchment area in the outskirts of Nairobi. The struggle was finally won in 2003 when leaders of the newly elected NARC government affirmed their commitment to the forest by planting trees in the area.
However, Kenyan government closing of Greenbelt offices, the twice jailing of Maathai, and the 1992 severe Maathai beating by police while leading a peaceful protest against the imprisonment of several environmental and political activists have served as impediments to the Greenbelt Movement.
