Kenyan Environmental Leader Joins F&ES Faculty as McCluskey Fellow

Wangari Maathai of Kenya, an internationally recognized environmental leader and human rights advocate, has joined the faculty of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies this spring as the Dorothy McCluskey Visiting Fellow for Conservation.

Professor Maathai founded and is coordinator of the Green Belt Movement, which is one of the most successful grassroots movements in Africa. The movement’s focus is the planting of trees with women’s groups in order to conserve the environment and improve the quality of life in Kenya, while providing a forum for women to be creative, effective leaders. Founded in 1977, the movement has led to the creation of over 2,000 green belts and the planting of several million trees.

Professor Maathai will teach a course, “Environment and Livelihoods: Governance, Donors and Debt,” with two new F&ES faculty members, Kathleen McAfee, assistant professor of social ecology and community development, and Lisa Curran, associate professor of tropical ecology. The course focuses on Africa, but includes case studies and comparisons from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Professor Maathai is the first woman from East Africa to earn a doctoral degree, obtaining one in 1971 from the University of Nairobi where she also taught veterinary anatomy. She was also the first woman in the region to be named chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and associate professor.

She has received several awards for environmental leadership, including the Golden Ark Award (1994) from Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, the Edinburg Medal (1993), the UN’s Africa Prize for Leadership (1991), and the Right Livelihood Award (1984). In addition, Professor Maathai ran unsuccessfully for president in 1997 representing the Liberal Party in Kenya against incumbent President Daniel Arap Moi.

In addition, she has addressed the United Nations on several occasions, including speaking on behalf of women at a special session of the General Assembly in 1997 for the five-year review of the Rio Earth Summit.

The Dorothy McCluskey Visiting Fellowship in Conservation supports senior managers and scientists from the non-profit environmental community in pursuing academic study or independent research for up to one year.