This blog is part of the series “Decolonising Feminism(s)”, hosted by the Gender & International Politics program at Polis180.
Trigger warning: the following content includes gender-based violence and sexual assault. Not graphically but as listed.
A blog post by Lara Brett
“She thinks globally and acts locally”
These are the words of the Nobel Committee, honouring 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai.
This blog post will explore Maathai’s contribution to environmental conservation in Kenya through the Green Belt Movement (GBM) and, by extension, her efforts to promote women’s rights and peace in Kenya and also globally.
About Wangari Maathai
Prof. Maathai was the first woman from Central and East Africa to obtain a doctoral degree. She was also the first female professor in Kenya. After witnessing the destruction of “local biodiversity” as a child, she became a passionate environmentalist. Aside from her work with the Green Belt Movement (GBM), she served as a Member of Parliament during Kenya’s democratic transition between 2002 and 2007, and as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources from 2003 to 2007.
In 2004 Maathai was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize, making her the first African woman to have received it. In subsequent years, she further became Goodwill Ambassador for the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem, Co-Chair of the Congo Basin Fund, Co-Founder of the Nobel Women’s Initiative and a UN Messenger of Peace, alongside her career as an author. At the University of Nairobi, the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies promotes “research for sustainable environments and cultures of peace.”
Professor Maathai passed away in 2011 but her legacy lives on partially through the GBM.
The Green Belt Movement
In 1920, Kenya saw the start of British colonial rule, with British repression leading to the murder of over 10,000 Kenyans during the Mau-Mau rebellion (1952-1960), as well as inhumane treatment of prisoners and intense sexual and gender-based violence targeting women. Kenya gained its independence in 1963, effectively becoming a one-party state under the Kenya African National Union (KANU). Amidst political upheavals, Kenyans advocated for their democratic rights, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. In these years the GBM arose and played a significant role in Kenya’s efforts to transition to a democracy.
The establishment of tea and coffee plantations under British colonial rule in Kenya still held a devastating environmental impact.
The spread of plantations had a significant impact on the ecosystem, leading to a lack of drinking water and firewood. This was highlighted directly by participants from rural areas in a meeting by the National Council of Women (NCWK) in 1976.
Encouraged by this, Maathai decided to act. In 1977, she helped organise the GBM on World Environment Day, under the auspices of the NCWK. A signature feature of the movement was its tree-planting efforts. Even today, the movement strives to support communities in becoming more self-sufficient by protecting their local environment and enhancing their understanding of climate change. At the international level, GBM advocates for better environmental protection in sub-Saharan Africa and the Congo Basin Rainforest Ecosystem.
Starting as a local project, today the GBM is active in Kenya as well as internationally, counting over 100,000 members. The civil society movement has four main aims: tree-planting and harvesting; fighting climate change; mainstream advocacy and Gender Livelihood and advocacy.
Following funding struggles in the 1970s, the 1980s saw GBM gain more international investment in the form of funds from the Norwegian Forestry Society and the UN Voluntary Fund for Women. This enabled GBM to purchase more seedlings and to launch the Pan African GBM.
The movement’s achievements further include the reduction of soil erosion in Kenya and the protection of Indigenous forests. This encouraged local communities to be more self-sufficient. As of 2018, GBM has planted over 51 million trees in Kenya. The campaign inspired the UN Environmental Programme’s ‘Billion Tree Campaign’, launched in 2006.
Furthermore, the movement centres around nature conservation and social justice for women’s rights and democracy. Researchers have repeatedly noted the movement’s ecofeminist principles, citing its efforts to counter the environmental and gender injustices inflicted by British colonialism.With their political engagement, the movement empowers Kenyan civil society to advocate for their civil rights in the face of authoritarianism, highlighting the intersection between environmental and human rights.
Political Backlash
The 1980s was a pivotal decade, both for Kenyan post-colonial politics and for the GBM. In that decade, then President Moi had political opponents arrested and tortured, with Maathai herself suffering tear-gassing and multiple arrests as she advocated for democracy.
The GBM was active in several political cases in this decade. Most notably, Maathai’s lawsuit against the construction of a development in Nairobi’s Uhuru Park received a scathing response from President Moi, stating that: “she had no right to criticize the government because African tradition requires women to respect men”. The President wasn’t alone in his criticism. Following her lawsuit’s dismissal, the Kenyan government condemned her reliance on Nairobi’s British High Commissioner to protect the park.
Although the government went on to dismiss the proposal in 1990, the case exemplifies the challenges faced by Kenyan civil society in the post-colonial period, especially for women counteracting patriarchal structures. It also highlights how intrinsically linked environmental protection and democratic rights are, as well as the threat posed to them by political corruption.
The legacy of the Green Belt Movement continued
Today, GBM continues its advocacy for environmental and human rights protection. Though it does not have an overall leader, it has a management team operating in Nairobi, with offices in Europe and the US.
The movement draws on the recognition of intersecting forms of oppression and in adopting mutli-facted solutions, such as educational seminars that educate women and, by extension, their communities. Its environmental projects include the protection of Kenya’s Karura forest.
Maathai was instrumental in providing academic knowledge and forging alliances with local and global actors, helping to sustain GBM financially.
The organisation works to counter social injustices by supporting the agency of Kenyan women and by protecting the environment that was ruined by British plantations. However, the legacy of British colonialism remains, such as the human rights and environmental abuses of British soldiers in the post-colonial period.
Looking into the efforts and fights of the GBM, we can truly learn that there can be no true democracy without full, safe and equitable participation from women. It becomes apparent that the involvement of women’s ideas in political decision-making enables the creation of a more inclusive and stable social environment, and furthers conservation efforts. As Maathai and GBM exhibit, grassroots movements play a crucial role in protecting local social cohesion and influencing global policy.
Maathai viewed the tree as “a symbol for the democratic struggle in Kenya,” she emphasized the planting of “trees of peace” by civilians and the GBM as a means to “demand the release of prisoners of conscience” and “reconcile disputing communities.“
Since 1977, the GBM has been pivotal in promoting human and environmental rights in Kenya and internationally, highlighting how grassroots organisations can effectively combat intersecting forms of injustice.
In Maathai’s words “We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own.”
Lara Brett is the co-lead of the ‘Gender and International Politics’ programme at Polis180.
The Polis Blog serves as a platform at the disposal of ‘Polis180’s & ‘OpenTTN‘s members. Published comments express solely the ‘authors’ opinions and shall not be confounded with the opinions of the editors or of Polis180.
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