The essential role of the environment is still marginal in discussions about poverty. While we continue to debate these initiatives, environmental degradation, including the loss of biodiversity and topsoil, accelerates, causing development efforts to falter. — Wangari Maathai Copy Share Image
I want to do the right things - I want to plant trees, I want to make sure that the indigenous forests are protected because I know, whatever happens, these are the forests that contain biodiversity, these are the forests… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share Image
For us who are now in power, we need to be challenged to serve the people and ignore our own egos and personal interests… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
We cannot tire or give up. We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk! — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
What I am trying to say is that they need to learn to rely on themselves and to learn from other people, and when… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
As long as there is no trust and confidence that there will be justice and fairness in resource distribution, political positioning will remain more… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
If Africa is left behind, she is going to continue pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, especially carbon. She's going to continue logging the… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
That's the way I do things when I want to celebrate, I always plant a tree. — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
I think that for anybody who has worked in the civil society, government bureaucracy moves very very slowly. — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
I have seen a lot of men, for example, who will make a will and include their daughters whether they are married or not.… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
I was particularly talking with respect to aid, because that to me is one area that can make people so dependent, and unfortunately, that… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
African women in general need to know that it's OK for them to be the way they are - to see the way they… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
As a scientist I cannot say we don't want to hear anything about GMOs, because these are advances in science. But I think its… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
When I first started, it was really an innocent response to the needs of women in rural areas. When we started planting trees to… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
Monsanto will not come empty-handed. Monsanto will come with a big bag of money. And because these governments are poor, when they are shown… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
Why has there been so much secrecy about AIDS? When you ask where did the virus come from, it raises a lot of flags.… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
I stand before you and the world humbled by this recognition and uplifted by the honour of being the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate. As… — Wangari Maathai Copy Share
