Professor Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2004, for, as the Nobel Committee put it, "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." University professor, grassroots organizer, and assistant minister for environment, natural resources and wildlife of Kenya, Maathai is the first African woman to receive the Prize. Nearly thirty years ago, Maathai started encouraging women to plant trees. By now her Green Belt Movement has planted tens of millions of trees in Kenya, and inspired similar initiatives throughout East and Southern Africa. On the eve of her departure for Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Maathai responded to IFPRI Forum's questions regarding the Prize and her work.

FORUM: What does winning the Nobel Peace Prize mean to you personally?

Maathai: At first, I was overwhelmed. I was also surprised because I had no idea that anyone was listening. I believe the Nobel committee was sending a message that protecting and restoring the environment contributes to peace; it is peace work. That was gratifying. I always felt that our work was not simply about planting trees. It was about inspiring people to take charge of their environment, the system that governed them, their lives, and their future. Although I have been given this great honor, the honor is not just for me. It is also for the thousands of women who planted 30 million trees throughout Kenya as part of the Green Belt Movement. It is also for those who worked to bring back democracy to Kenya through peaceful means, which we did in 2002. With the Prize I realized that the world was listening. After I planted a tree to celebrate, I called on all those who care for the environment around the world to plant a tree, too. I hope millions are planted.

FORUM: What do you think winning the prize could do for Africa's environment?

Maathai: The prize has given Kenyans a lot of energy. Kenya and Africa have many challenges, but this prize is a signal that there is hope. For Kenyans, being recognized like this means we have been given a special challenge. I hope the Prize will inspire us as a government and as a people to set a good example for Africa and the rest of the world, to show them that no matter what problems we face we can still protect the environment and think of future generations. The message for Africans is that the solutions to our problems lie within us. The work we have been doing with the Green Belt Movement is a local response to a local problem. If we believe that a clean and healthy environment is a right, we cannot gain this right unless we have a democratic government that respects and acknowledges it, along with other rights. If citizens do not acknowledge these rights or their responsibilities, we will not have a healthy environment. Without that, livelihoods cannot be supported, so you will not have a democratic system. Instead, people will compete over resources.

FORUM: How did you and your movement make the transition from planting trees to planting democracy? How did you end up working mostly with women?

Maathai: In the mid-1970s, rural women I met through the National Council of Women of Kenya, in which I was an officer, related their needs to me. They said they did not have enough wood for energy or good sources of clean drinking water or enough to eat, especially nutritious foods. I saw that the common thread in all of this was that the environment around them was in decline. Trees were a good solution. Trees could meet women's immediate needs and also help restore degraded ecosystems. I began to work with the women to grow tree seedlings and plant them on private land. Women were compensated for their seedlings so they got a small income. Over the years, we realized that communities also needed to be aware of the connections between the problems they were experiencing (the symptoms) and environmental degradation and poor governance, as well as the power they had to change the situation. This was through our civic and environmental education program. Through this training, people (both women and men) began to see that if you have a dictatorial, irresponsible government, that government can privatize your forests, privatize your open green spaces, destroy your environment, misappropriate tax money, and ignore its responsibilities to the people. Eventually, it was through these seminars that a pro-democracy movement was created within the Green Belt Movement that joined with the larger pro-democracy movement in Kenya.

FORUM: To what extent have Green Belt Movement women been empowered to make their own decisions?

Maathai: Through this very hands-on method of growing and planting trees, women have seen that they have real choices about whether they are going to sustain and restore the environment or destroy it. 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. Women also take on leadership roles, running nurseries, working with foresters, and planning and implementing community-based projects for water harvesting and food security. All of these experiences contribute to their developing more confidence in themselves and more power over the direction of their lives.

FORUM: If you could tell the West what to do to help Africa become more economically and environmentally healthy, what would you say?

Maathai: For people to thrive, the environment that sustains them must thrive. Governments need to be at the forefront of environmental protection. Without specific laws that protect the environment it is difficult to see how any delicate ecosystem can survive over the short term, let alone the long term. We cannot alleviate poverty unless we find a way to use our natural resources sustainably. When people are poor they will not think about the long-term consequences of their actions on a forest, a stream, a field or a species. Once that resource is degraded or lost, the poor will get that much poorer. Unless there is political will and public acceptance of environmental protection around the world--because environmental management and protection is a global concern and responsibility--then the enormous benefits the environment bestows on us may be lost, and future generations will pay the price.