2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, Dr Matthai was the Founder of The Green Belt Movement. She was visiting fellow at Yale University’s Global Institute for sustainable forestry. Born in Nyeri Kenya, Dr Maathai obtained a Bsc .in biology from Mount St. Scholastica College, an Msc from University of Pittsburgh and a PhD in anatomy from University of Nairobi.

She Joined the Council of Women in Kenya in 1976 and became chairperson from 1981 to 1987. Dr Matthai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 to encourage women’s groups to conserve the environment by planting more than 30 million trees across Kenya in 30 years.

She established a Pan-African Green Belt network in1986 and launched Jubilee 2000 Africa Campaign to cancel the debts of poor African countries. She was elected to Kenya’s parliament and appointed assistant minister for environment and natural resources in 2003.

Dr. Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and France’s Légion d’honneur in 2006.

She is an informative and passionate speaker on current environmental issues.