UF to plant tree recognizing the first African woman to win Nobel Peace Prize

October 19, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A 20-foot oak tree will be planted Friday on the University of Florida campus to celebrate the life of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai.

Hosted by the UF Center for African Studies, the African Student Union and Student Government, the tree planting will take place on the lawn between Grinter Hall and University Auditorium from noon to 2 p.m. During the ceremony, there will be speeches led by UF Provost Joe Glover and African drumming and music provided by the UF Pazeni Sauti African Choir. UF, Gainesville and Kenyan Embassy officials are expected to participate. The Mayor of Gainesville will read a proclamation declaring October 21, 2011, as Wangari Maathai day in Gainesville.

Maathai, who died in September, was a prominent environmentalist, who along with being the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace prize, was the first woman to run for president in Kenya, the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate, the first female professor at the University of Nairobi and in death the first Kenyan woman to receive a state burial.

The tree planting was inspired by Maathai’s Green Belt Movement, a movement she started in Kenya in 1977, and has resulted in the planting of more than 40 million trees across Africa. The goal of the movement is to mobilize communities to use tree planting as an entry point for self-determination, equity, improved livelihoods and security and environmental conservation.

The African Student Union is also continuing her work by leading a tree-planting campaign through Facebook group called “Tree Plantathon,” to encourage students to plant trees in Maathai’s honor.