When a Sapling is Planted
by Wangari Maathai
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This is the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist and the first African woman to win the prize (2004). Accepting it on behalf of the people of Kenya, Africa and the world, and especially mindful of women and the girl child, she traces her inspiration to her rural childhood, where she watched forests being cleared for commercial plantations that destroyed biodiversity and water. In 1977 she started the Green Belt Movement in response to rural women's needs for firewood, clean water, food, shelter and income. Since women are Africa's primary caretakers, they are the first to feel environmental damage; tree planting was chosen because it is simple, attainable and gives quick results. Together they planted over 30 million trees. Maathai shows that a degraded environment leads to a scramble for scarce resources, poverty and even conflict, so the tree became a symbol of the democratic struggle for responsible governance, and of peace and reconciliation. She argues that there can be no peace without equitable development, and no development without sustainable, democratic management of the environment. Calling on world leaders to expand democratic space and on young people to shape a sustainable future, she closes by recalling the clear stream and tadpoles of her childhood, now dried up, and defines the challenge as restoring 'a world of beauty and wonder' for our children.
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'When a Sapling is Planted' is the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of Wangari Maathai, delivered at Oslo on 10 December 2004. She was the first African woman to receive the prize, honoured for her work on sustainable development, democracy and peace.
Roots in a rural childhood
Maathai accepts the prize on behalf of the people of Kenya, Africa and the world, and is especially mindful of women and the girl child. Her inspiration comes from her childhood in rural Kenya, where she witnessed forests being cleared and replaced by commercial plantations that destroyed local biodiversity and the forests' capacity to conserve water.
The Green Belt Movement
In 1977 she started the Green Belt Movement in response to rural women's needs, firewood, clean drinking water, balanced diets, shelter and income. As Africa's primary caretakers who till the land and feed their families, women are often the first to feel environmental damage. Tree planting was a natural choice: simple, attainable and quick to show results. Together they planted over 30 million trees that provide fuel, food, shelter and income, and improve soil and watersheds.
The tree as a symbol
Maathai explains that a degraded environment leads to a scramble for scarce resources, poverty and even conflict. So the tree became a symbol of the democratic struggle in Kenya, mobilising citizens against abuse of power, corruption and environmental mismanagement. Drawing on African tradition, like the Kikuyu elders' 'thigi tree' staff of peace, the tree also became a symbol of peace and reconciliation during ethnic conflicts.
Peace, development and a closing memory
She argues that there can be no peace without equitable development, and no development without sustainable management of the environment in a democratic, peaceful space. She calls on world leaders to expand democratic space and on young people, 'our hope and our future', to work toward a sustainable future.
She closes by recalling her childhood stream, where she once tried to pick up frogs' eggs believing they were beads and watched thousands of tadpoles in clear water. Fifty years later the stream has dried up, women walk far for unclean water, and children will never know what they have lost. The challenge, she says, is to restore that home and give children back 'a world of beauty and wonder'.