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The Green Belt Movement (GBM) is an indigenous grassroots non-governmental organization based in Nairobi, Kenya that takes a holistic approach to development by focusing on environmental conservation, community development and capacity building. Professor Wangari Maathai established the organization in 1977, under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya.

Wangari Maathai is the founder of the Green Belt Movement. Maathai was born in the rural area of the Nyeri District of Kenya, and earned a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), and a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburg (1966). She later received her PhD from the University of Nairobi, becoming the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate. Maathai was a leader in ecofeminist movement, and in 2004, became the first African woman to in the  Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Green Belt Movement. Maathai's book, The Green Belt Movement, is published by Lantern Books. Although formal institutions, such as the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, recognized Maathai’s work, her work was not intended for legitimization but rather as a form of radical action against systems creating and reinforcing rural poverty.

The Green Belt Movement organizes women in rural Kenya to plant trees, combat deforestation, restore their main source of fuel for cooking, generate income, and stop soil erosion. Maathai has incorporated advocacy and empowerment for women, eco-tourism, and just economic development into the Green Belt Movement.

Since Wangari started the movement in 1977, over 51 million trees have been planted, and over 30,000 women have been trained in forestry, food processing, bee-keeping, and other trades that help them earn income while preserving their lands and resources. Communities in Kenya (both men and women) have been motivated and organised to both prevent further environmental destruction and restore that which has been damaged.

On June 5, 1977 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, trees were planted, marking the beginning of what would become an internationally influential movement that challenges the hegemonic structures of that oppress rural communities in Kenya. The Green Belt Movement’s mission is to “mobilize community consciousness for self-determination, justice, equity, reduction of poverty, and environmental conservation, using trees as the entry point”.

This non-governmental organization (NGO) uses the direct action of planting trees and facilitating community education to change the current system of oppression that prevents women in rural Kenya from accessing education, resources and land. This form of activism, as direct community empowerment, has been replicated around the world. The Green Belt Movement functions to support and provide resources to communities for the purpose of demanding democratic space and accountability from national leaders. For example, on the Green Belt Movement Website, a news link will update visitors on current cases of activism. On February 23, 2016, a press statement on the Karura Forest was published to the Green Belt Movement’s official website. This article calls for the public's help in addressing the current issue of land grabbing within the Karura Forest that violates the 2016-2020 strategic forest management plan created by the Kenya Forest Service and Friends of Karura Forest.

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai/biography