Eddie Burke

What is Africa's challenge? Ask Wangari Maathi.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathi yesterday in the lobby of the Marriott hotel in downtown Washington. Believe me, this is rare given her busy schedule!

For those not familiar, Dr. Maathi is the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an environmentalist, a civil society and women's rights activist, and a parliamentarian. I should add that she was the first woman in Sub Saharan Africa to gain A PhD.

Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Wangari Maathai has become a spokesperson for a number of important initiatives. Her organisation the Green Belt Movement began by addressing a serious problem with simple solution: getting communities to plant trees as a symbol of their commitment. Since 1977 she has overseen the planting of around 10 million trees on the continent of Africa.

We talked in depth about the Congo Basin project. Dr Maathi told me she was full of praise for Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the British Government for their support of the Congo Basin Project and for recognising the important contribution gained from forests especially the Congo forest. The Prime Minister (then Chancellor of the Exchequer) In 2005 gave a $100 million contribution for a new fund to support conservation of the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem. This initiative will help to protect the Congo Basin Forest ecosystem spanning ten countries in central Africa.

The Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem in central Africa plays an important role in absorbing CO2, a main greenhouse gas, and provide the world with oxygen.

"The Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem must be protected, because without them not only will the global climate not be stabilised, but the world will suffer, in particular the region of Africa which has few options"

Of course I took this opportunity to tell Dr. Maathi about the British Embassy's work on climate change and the upcoming Women's Empowerment conference at the National Geographic Society which will focus on "Women and the Global Outlook."

Posted at 10:04 17 April 2009 by Eddie Burke  |  Comments[0]