Green Belt Movement

Inspiring other Campaigns

The Green Belt Movement has inspired similar movements in at least a dozen other countries. The idea of creating “belts” is common to several African countries, particularly following the economic crisis of the 1970s. Thus, in the mid-1980s the Pan-Africa Green Belt Network developed once the movement came into being in Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi became a powerful ally or the movement in 1989. These belts provide shade and habitats for distinctive small animals and birds, facilitate soil conservation, and help community members, usually in large numbers, understand what protects the environment and communal values. This process has not come easy, and many leaders have been imprisoned or battered by police when defending the movement, Wangari Maathai being one of them.

The Green Belt Movement of Kenya is linked to the International Green Belt Movement, as seen by the endorsement of the Forest Now Declaration, calling for new market-based mechanisms to protect tropical forests (2007). The ongoing “Plant for the Planet; Billion Tree Campaign”-a major worldwide tree-planting campaign established by the United Nations Environment Program, and one of the first environmental programs in Africa to be established in Nairobi (1972)-strongly encourages the planting of indigenous trees and trees appropriate to local environments. It has continued gaining the support of people, communities, businesses, civil society organizations, and governments worldwide.

Wangari Maathai in Kenya in 2004, the year she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Green Belt Movement.

The United Nations Environment Program has been working toward a goal of planting 7 billion trees by the end of 2009. The Green Belt Movement remains vibrant and successful in the early 21st century, in empowering both women and environmentalism worldwide. It also shows relevant connections to other ecological and women's movements (the Chipko Movement or Love Canal).

Prominent ecological feminist thinkers such as Carol J. Adams, Irene Diamond, Ynestra King, Carolyn Merchant, Maria Mies, Gloria Orenstein, and Vandana Shiva emphasize that women are often central to efforts to stop environmental degradation (at least compared with other movements), as ecological change affects women more than men throughout the world.

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