| dc.description.abstract | Professor Wangari Muta Mathai, was the 2004 Nobel peace prize winner, she was also, the
first woman to earn a doctorate degree in east and central Africa. At the same time she taught
at the University of Nairobi where she also became the first woman to be the head of
department of Veterinary Anatomy. Professor Wangari Mathai is also the founder 'of The
Greenbelt movement, a nongovernmental organization which she has used to fight :several
environmental battles. Because of the environmental battles fought and won by Professor
Wangari Mathai, she was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace prize. To date, the Professor is still
an ambassador of peace through her environmental activities.
However, not all information about Professor Wangari Maathai, had been documented. Very
little was known about her contributions to environmental conservation particularly with
respect to her collaboration with other environmental conservation stakeholders and
institutions. The public conservationist and many resource management stakeholders .did not
know the philosophy and purpose driving Professor Wangari Maathai. As much as we were
aware of her purpose and focus on environmental issues, little was known about her
approaches given climatic and environmental challenges. The focus of this study was to
examine her philosophy, focus and approaches and contributions in her long life dedication to
environmental conservation. These were the core issues which this study was seeking to
answer.
The methodologies used were a bibliometric study.
The study found out Sensitization, mobilization, whistle blowing, financial support,
coordination leadership and formation of organization as some of the key roles of Prof
Maathai. It also showed that love for the environment, gratitude and respect for the earth
resources, self empowerment and self betterment and the spirit of service and voluntarism as
the social belief which Prof Maathai held. In addition, poverty, clean water scarcity, firewood
scarcity, need for clean and health environment and the shift from traditional economy to
money economy formed her social concerns to environmental conservation. For her to have
achieved her goals, she collaborated with individuals and institution through chance, acuity,
interest and leadership collaborative methods. These lead to her achieving results such as
saving Uhuru Park, Karua forest, Jevanjee gardens, and Mau forest. She also got several
awards and made several publication. The research also established publications of and about
Prof Maathai by herself and by other people about her. | en |
