Primary source

Wangari Maathai (1940–2011), born in Nyeri, Kenya, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 ‘for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace’. The Nobel Prize organisation records that she was the first African woman to receive the Peace Prize. In 1977 she started the Green Belt Movement, which encouraged women to plant trees against deforestation and helped plant over thirty million trees. She was also a leading voice for democracy in Kenya.