permaculture

[mIEKAL aND <dtv@mwt.net>]

Op-Ed Contributor: Trees for Democracy
December 10, 2004
By WANGARI MAATHAI

Nairobi, Kenya

WHEN I was growing up in Nyeri in central Kenya, there was
no word for desert in my mother tongue, Kikuyu. Our land
was fertile and forested. But today in Nyeri, as in much of
Africa and the developing world, water sources have dried
up, the soil is parched and unsuitable for growing food,
and conflicts over land are common. So it should come as no
surprise that I was inspired to plant trees to help meet
the basic needs of rural women. As a member of the National
Council of Women of Kenya in the early 1970's, I listened
as women related what they wanted but did not have enough
of: energy, clean drinking water and nutritious food.

My response was to begin planting trees with them, to help
heal the land and break the cycle of poverty. Trees stop
soil erosion, leading to water conservation and increased
rainfall. Trees provide fuel, material for building and
fencing, fruits, fodder, shade and beauty. As household
managers in rural and urban areas of the developing world,
women are the first to encounter the effects of ecological
stress. It forces them to walk farther to get wood for
cooking and heating, to search for clean water and to find
new sources of food as old ones disappear.

My idea evolved into the Green Belt Movement, made up of
thousands of groups, primarily of women, who have planted
30 million trees across Kenya. The women are paid a small
amount for each seedling they grow, giving them an income
as well as improving their environment. The movement has
spread to countries in East and Central Africa.

Through this work, I came to see that environmental
degradation by poor communities was both a source of their
problems and a symptom. Growing crops on steep mountain
slopes leads to loss of topsoil and land deterioration.
Similarly, deforestation causes rivers to dry up and
rainfall patterns to shift, which, in turn, result in much
lower crop yields and less land for grazing.

In the 1970's and 1980's, as I was encouraging farmers to
plant trees on their land, I also discovered that corrupt
government agents were responsible for much of the
deforestation by illegally selling off land and trees to
well-connected developers. In the early 1990's, the
livelihoods, the rights and even the lives of many Kenyans
in the Rift Valley were lost when elements of President
Daniel arap Moi's government encouraged ethnic communities
to attack one another over land. Supporters of the ruling
party got the land, while those in the pro-democracy
movement were displaced. This was one of the government's
ways of retaining power; if communities were kept busy
fighting over land, they would have less opportunity to
demand democracy.

Land issues in Kenya are complex and easily exploited by
politicians. Communities needed to understand and be
sensitized about the history of land ownership and
distribution in Kenya and Africa. We held seminars on human
rights, governing and reducing conflict.

In time, the Green Belt Movement became a leading advocate
of reintroducing multiparty democracy and free and fair
elections in Kenya. Through public education, political
advocacy and protests, we also sought to protect open
spaces and forests from unscrupulous developers, who were
often working hand in hand with politicians, through public
education, political advocacy and protests. Mr. Moi's
government strongly opposed advocates for democracy and
environmental rights; harassment, beatings, death threats
and jail time followed, for me and for many others.

Fortunately, in 2002, Kenyans realized their dream and
elected a democratic government. What we've learned in
Kenya - the symbiotic relationship between the sustainable
management of natural resources and democratic governance -
is also relevant globally.

Indeed, many local and international wars, like those in
West and Central Africa and the Middle East, continue to be
fought over resources. In the process, human rights,
democracy and democratic space are denied.

I believe the Nobel Committee recognized the links between
the environment, democracy and peace and sought to bring
them to worldwide attention with the Peace Prize that I am
accepting today. The committee, I believe, is seeking to
encourage community efforts to restore the earth at a time
when we face the ecological crises of deforestation,
desertification, water scarcity and a lack of biological
diversity.

Unless we properly manage resources like forests, water,
land, minerals and oil, we will not win the fight against
poverty. And there will not be peace. Old conflicts will
rage on and new resource wars will erupt unless we change
the path we are on.

To celebrate this award, and the work it recognizes of
those around the world, let me recall the words of Gandhi:
My life is my message. Also, plant a tree.

Wangari Maathai, the 2004 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize,
is Kenya's assistant minister for environment and natural
resources and the founder of the Green Belt Movement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/opinion/ 
10maathai.html?ex=1103690357&ei=1&en=4974159aeb120f30