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Peace Prize Goes to Environmentalist in Kenya By PATRICK E. TYLER http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/09/international/africa/09nobel.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position= [O] SLO, Oct. 8 - Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan woman who started an environmental movement that has planted 30 million trees in Africa and who has campaigned for women's rights and greater democracy in her home country, was announced the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. She is the first African woman to win the peace prize since it was first awarded in 1901. Last year, the prize also was awarded to a woman, Shirin Ebadi, in recognition of her work promoting the rights of women and children as a lawyer in Iran. The Nobel committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, announcing the 2004 prize here, said Dr. Maathai "represents an example and a source of inspiration for everyone in Africa fighting for sustainable development, democracy and peace." In choosing her as the peace prize laureate, the Nobel committee stretched the traditional bounds of the prize to include environmental advocacy. Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite who established the prize in his will in 1895, decreed that the prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Asked if the committee had expanded a prize that already recognizes human rights advocacy and peacekeeping, Professor Mjoes, a physician and former president of the University of Tromso, replied, speaking in Norwegian, "It is clear that with this award, we have expanded the term 'peace' to encompass environmental questions related to our beloved Earth." In his prepared statement, he added, "Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment." Dr. Maathai, whose name is pronounced wan-GAH-ree mah-DHEYE, 64, born in Nyeri in central Kenya, founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 to organize poor women to plant millions of trees to combat deforestation and to replenish the source of fuel for cooking fires in villages. She was beaten and jailed during the rule of President Daniel arap Moi for challenging state policies that threatened Kenya's parks, wildlife and forests, and she also traveled broadly to support women's causes. "Maathai stood up courageously against the former oppressive regime in Kenya," the Nobel committee said. "Her unique forms of action have contributed to drawing attention to political oppression." She is divorced with three children and serves as the head of the Veterinary Anatomy Department at the University of Nairobi. Educated in the United States and Kenya, she studied biology at Mount St. Scholastica College in Kansas and received a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Returning to Africa, she received a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Nairobi. "Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa," Professor Mjoes said. "She has taken a holistic approach to sustainable development and embraces democracy, human rights and women's rights in particular," he said, adding, "She thinks globally and acts locally." In 1995, at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, she joined Bella Abzug, her longtime friend, and a thousand other women in a march to draw attention to the problem of violence against women around the world. In a crowd of women dressed in black, she stood out wearing a bright yellow print dress for a procession that was controlled by Chinese police officers, who were trying to prevent it from reaching Tiananmen Square, the parade ground where pro-democracy Chinese students were gunned down in June 1989. "I decided not to wear black, because I am black," she told a reporter, using a characteristic bravura of speech to demonstrate a passionate commitment to women's rights. "No matter how much we fail, we must recognize that there is hope. Especially in my region, with all the recent slaughter in Rwanda, for even there, the sun will rise, and we continue to hope that we can overcome our suffering." In 1996, when an international agricultural research organization identified poor farmers in the developing world as a significant threat to forest lands, Dr. Maathai spoke out, saying: "It is very common for people making such conclusions to blame poor people. Poor people are the victims, not the cause. In Kenya at the moment, we are fighting to protect the remaining very few indigenous forests from some of the richest people in the country." Now she will be one of the richest people in the country after collecting the $1.36 million prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death. "I am completely, completely overwhelmed," Dr. Maathai told Norway's TV2 station, which was the first to reach her in Kenya. "That's a lot of money. I've not had so much money in my life. It's so much I don't know what I'll be able to do with it. But I do know it will go to improve the work we do." Later in the day, accompanied by President Mwai Kibaki, she appeared at State House wearing a bright green and yellow dress. After Mr. Moi lost power in the 2002 elections, she won a seat in Parliament, and she serves as assistant minister for environment. "It's a great honor, on me, on my country, on my colleagues, on my friends and all my partners throughout the world," she told supporters. Later, in an interview, she added, "We have changed the way people think about the environment in this country." Dr. Maathai said she was not surprised that the Nobel committee was interested in focusing on environmental issues as an aspect of peace. "People are fighting over water, over food and over other natural resources," she told Norwegian television. "When our resources become scarce, we fight over them. In managing our resources and in sustainable development, we plant the seeds of peace." Dr. Maathai is the 12th woman to win the prize. The current Nobel committee, a five-member panel appointed by the Norwegian parliament in early 2003, has three female members. In Washington, the United States issued congratulations to Dr. Maathai, but tempered its praise for her. In the past, the United States has criticized her over her claims that AIDS was a biological weapon developed in the West to kill black people. The State Department said Friday that Ms. Maathai's selection reflected well on Kenya and its government. "She's had many long years of environmental activism," said Richard A. Boucher, the department spokesman. "We think she's been a very prominent and important activist on environmental issues, and we have great respect for that." Geir Lundestad, director of the Nobel Institute and secretary to the committee, said there were a record 194 nominations for the prize this year, and a great deal of speculation had focused on the nomination of the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director Mohamed ElBaradei for their efforts in reducing the risks of nuclear proliferation. Other nominees included former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia and Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, who conceived a series of programs to control, convert or destroy the nuclear stockpiles of the former Soviet Union. Nonetheless, Africa's plight in the modern era of genocidal conflict on the continent, an epidemic from the human immunodeficiency virus, poor government and continuing poverty compelled the Nobel committee to honor Dr. Maathai's uplifting example. "When there is so much bad news about Africa," Professor Lundestad said, "we are happy we could point to a person who provides guidance for the future." But committee members seemed aware that focusing on the environment might seem a diversion in a world seized by the threat of terrorism, nuclear proliferation and war in the Middle East. Professor Lundestad said committee members were unable to use the prize to encourage any peace process in the Holy Land or in Iraq because so little diplomatic activity is under way. "I think most people will understand why we didn't award a prize in the Middle East," Professor Lundestad said. For now, he said, "We want to give some hope to Africa." On Friday, the Kenyan government, which once persecuted Dr. Maathai, was delighted. "We are in the mood to celebrate," President Kibaki said in Nairobi. Marc Lacey contributed reporting from Nairobi for this article, and Walter Gibbs from Oslo. 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