Kenya has transformed the legacy of Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai from a symbol of grassroots resistance into official state policy.
This was revealed during an event, held on the sidelines of UNEA-7, marked two decades since Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize.
It also set the stage for a new vision of national policy rooted in her teachings.
The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Debora Mlongo said
Kenya is not merely honouring a national icon. It is embedding her principles into the state’s environmental architecture.
She stated: “The environment is the basis of our survival.” She then reminded the audience that Maathai’s lessons remain active demands, not historical memories.
“Today, anyone who destroys forests, pollutes rivers, grabs public land, or undermines environmental governance stands in direct opposition to the legacy of Wangari Maathai.”
Karura Forest carried emotional weight. It is where Maathai was beaten, arrested, and ridiculed for defending public land.
The CS noted that without Maathai’s defiance, “these trees, these trails, this air, would have been lost forever.” Karura has now become a symbol of the country’s shift from protecting isolated green spaces to scaling national restoration.
The CS said Kenya “continues to walk firmly in the footsteps of Wangari Maathai” as it turns her grassroots approach into state policy.
She outlined the country’s direction with clarity. Kenya is rolling out the 15-Billion Tree Growing Programme to restore degraded land and water catchments.
It is strengthening governance through amendments to the Forest Conservation and Management Act. It is expanding community-led forestry and integrating nature-based solutions into climate action, urban planning, and water management.
These actions, she said, are not new inventions. They are “the institutionalisation of Wangari’s teachings” and proof that the Green Belt Movement’s philosophy has become a national development logic.
Wanjira Mathai, daughter of Nobel Laureate told the gathering that her mother’s work “ignited a grassroots revolution” that planted more than 30 million trees and built civic
courage in villages, farms, and women’s groups.
She said the world now needs the same community energy, but scaled through strong institutions and political will.
She urged governments to empower communities and protect Indigenous knowledge “that has sustained ecosystems for centuries.” She called Wangari’s work a blueprint for climate- resilient development, not just a conservation story.
The hummingbird parable remained central. It was the metaphor that defined Maathai’s activism, and the CS returned to it again.
“The essence of leadership,” she said, is doing the best one can even when the task seems impossible. She repeated Maathai’s line: “I am doing the best I can.” She said that today, “she asks the same of us, to do the best we can, no matter how small the effort may seem.”
Wanjira stressed this, saying, “When others say it’s hopeless, we still carry a drop of water in our beaks.” The call was not symbolic but a demand for shared responsibility during a period of escalating environmental stress.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen expanded the urgency with global context. She said environmental decline is “cutting lives short, destroying livelihoods, and pushing ecosystems to the brink.”
She warned that the world cannot wait for perfect consensus. “We must act now,” she said, arguing that nations must treat nature as a core economic asset rather than an externality.
Her remarks aligned with new UNEP assessments showing pollution kills nine million people annually, air pollution alone costs US$8.1 trillion a year, and degraded land now affects between 20 and 40 percent of the Earth’s surface.
Extreme weather linked to climate change costs US$143 billion every year. She said Wangari understood that environmental collapse fuels conflict and poverty a reality that is now global.
Norwegian Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen also spoke. He said wealthy nations must support frontline countries not out of charity but responsibility.
“No one is safe until all are safe,” he said as he pledged increased financing for forest restoration and renewable energy.
He pointed to Norway’s partnerships across Africa as evidence that community-led conservation delivers results when backed with predictable funding.
Kenya’s own vulnerabilities frame the need for this shift. Droughts across ASAL counties have destroyed livelihoods. Flooding in lowland regions has displaced families and damaged crops.
Nairobi faces rising heat and worsening air pollution. Microplastics contaminate rivers supplying millions. Soil degradation threatens food production in Rift Valley and central Kenya.
The CS said those realities require stronger enforcement and clear political will. “Forests, wetlands, and biodiversity hotspots will not be sacrificed for short-term gains. Not under our watch.”
She called on development partners to deepen support for green growth. She urged the private sector to adopt “nature-positive supply chains.”
She encouraged youth and communities to “join hands with government” in conservation. The ceremony closed with tree planting. Before planting her seedling, the CS quoted Wangari again: “A tree has roots in the soil yet reaches to the sky.” The line captured the day’s message rooted in local action, directed toward national ambition.
