Overview of Green Belt Movement
The Grassroots Environmental Campaign Empowering Women in Kenya
Information on the history, achievements and current activities of the Global Belt Movement, a women's rights and environmental campaign based in Kenya.
The Green Belt Movement is a women's empowerment and environmental organization based in Kenya. It was founded by Dr. Wangari Maathai in 1977 and began as a grassroots tree planting campaign. Today, the Green Belt Movement is known as a democratic environmental alliance empowering women worldwide.
History and Achievements of the Green Belt Movement
Wangari Maathai wrote on the Green Belt Movement website that “the planting of trees is the planting of ideas.” Maathai, working in the 1970s as a university professor, saw the challenges facing Kenya with deforestation, soil erosion and limited water resources. She mobilized women to work together in planting trees, both helping the environment and providing women with a generated income and self-sufficiency.
The grassroots campaign grew steadily and, in 1986, the Green Belt Movement established the Pan African Belt Network with 15 African countries. The network championed the cause of environmental protection and helped to mobilise action outside of Kenya. Since then, the Green Belt Movement has inspired similar grassroots campaigns across the world.
In 2004, Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her contributions to sustainable development, democracy and peace. Maathai was the first African woman and the first environmentalist to receive the award. Maathai is also an elected Member of Parliament in Kenya.
In 2007, the Green Belt Movement celebrated 30 years of tree planting and capacity building for women in Kenya. The Green Belt Movement has planted more than 40 million trees across Africa and this enormous effort has contributed to slowing the processes of deforestation and desertification.
Today, the Green Belt Movement has over 600 community networks across Kenya that care for 6,000 tree nurseries. An umbrella organization, the Green Belt Movement International, has been established to facilitate sharing the work of movement and to advocate internationally for the environment, democracy and equity.
The Work of the Green Belt Movement
In addition to continuing environmental conservation and tree planting programs, the Green Belt Movement in Kenya holds civic and environment education programs for participants, bringing identified solutions, environmental awareness and action.
The Women for Change programs organized by the Green Belt Movement include capacity building workshops that support income-generating activities and provide reproductive and sexual health information. The income-generating activities, primarily for women (though men are not excluded), build skills in areas such as food security, food processing and marketing, bee keeping and tree planting.
The Green Belt Movement website stated that “the mission of GBM Kenya continues to be to mobilise communities for self-determination, justice, equity, poverty reduction and environmental conservation, using trees as the entry point.”
In January 2008, the Green Belt Movement launched the Peace Tent initiative to facilitate healing and reconciliation after ethnic clashes which followed the Presidential elections.
Get Involved
On the Green Belt Movement website, readers can donate to the campaign, pledge to join the Billion Trees Campaign, or find out more about joining a cultural exchange with Green Belt Safaris.
Related articles of interest: Feminization of Poverty, International Women's Day, Women and Climate Change
