Wangari Maathai

SELAYANG PANDANG

Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai (lahir di Nyeri, Kenya, 1 April 1940; umur 71 tahun) adalah seorang aktivis lingkungan hidup dan politik. Pada tahun 2004, ia menjadi wanita asal Afrika pertama yang dianugerahi Penghargaan Perdamaian Nobel untuk kontribusinya dalam bidang pembangunan berkelanjutan, demokrasi, dan perdamaian. Ia merupakan anggota Parlemen Kenya serta pernah menjabat sebagai Asisten Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Sumber Daya Alam dalam pemerintahan Presiden Mwai Kibaki antara Januari 2003 sampai November 2005.
Dr. Maathai lahir di Desa Ihithe, Divisi Tetu, Distrik Nyeri, Kenya dalam keluarga etnis Kikuyu. Ia mendapat gelar sarjana dalam biologi dari Benedictine College, Atchison pada tahun 1964 dan kemudian dilanjutkan di Universitas Pittsburgh sebelum kembali ke Nairobi. Di Universitas Nairobi, ia mendapat gelar Ph.D. pertama bagi wanita asal Afrika Timur dalam bidang kedokteran hewan. Ia menjadi dosen anatomi hewan di universitas tersebut pada 1971 dan kemudian menjadi dekan. Pada tahun 2002, ia menerima posisi sebagai Visiting Fellow di Institut Global untuk Kehutanan Berkelanjutan Universitas Yale.

KARIER

Pada 1977 ia mendirikan Gerakan Sabuk Hijau, sebuah organisasi akar rumput nonpemerintah yang bertujuan menjamin sumber penyokong kayu bakar dan mencegah erosi tanah. Kampanye itu menggerakkan wanita miskin dan menanam lebih dari 30 juta pohon hingga kini. Selama bertahun-tahun, penebangan liar telah menimbulkan kurangnya air segar dan kayu bakar serta mutu tanah yang menurun. Maathai bisa memotivasi ibu-ibu dari anak-anak kekurangan gizi untuk mengumpulkan bibit tanaman, menggali sumur, dan menjaga semaian dari hewan dan manusia. Karena jasa-jasanya itu, ia digelari Mama Miti (bahasa Swahili: Ibu dari Pepohonan).
Dari 1976 sampai 1987 Maathai aktif dalam Dewan Nasional Kenya untuk Wanita, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, yang diketuainya antara 1981–1987. Gerakan Sabuk Biru, yang muncul di saat yang sama, kemudian berkampanye pada isu-isu pendidikan dan gizi. Maathai sendiri telah memulai tantangan baru; sebagai contoh, ia adalah anggota Dewan Penasihat Perlucutan Senjata PBB.
Di masa rezim Daniel Arap Moi, Maathai sempat ditahan beberapa kali dan mengalami penyerangan karena tuntutannya untuk pemilihan umum multipartai, pemberantasan korupsi, dan mengakhiri politik kesukuan. Termasuk dalam perjuangannya adalah penyelamatan Taman Uhuru di Nairobi pada tahun 1989 dari konstruksi kompleks bisnis Kenya Times Media Trust oleh rekanan Moi. Pada 1997, ia berkampanye untuk menduduki jabatan Presiden Kenya namun kalah setelah partainya menarik pencalonannya.
Pada Desember 2002, Maathai terpilih menjadi anggota Parlemen Kenya dengan 98% suara. Pada 2003 ia diangkat sebagai Asisten Menteri Lingkungan, Sumber Daya Alam, dan Margasatwa. Di tahun yang sama, ia juga mendirikan Mazingira Green Party of Kenya


Green Belt Movement: Women for Change

Since the 2002 elections, the political climate in Kenya took a turn for the better, with government leaders listening more intently to issues affecting women, and in turn allowing women to have more participation in policy decisions. Given this new climate, the Green Belt Movement established a program in 2003 called Women for Change (WFC). Sponsored in part by Comic Relief United Kingdom (a group that provides funding for nonprofit organizations through comedy concerts), the goal of the program is to give women, especially young girls, a new sense of empowerment through education.

In 2003 the president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki (1931–), declared an official "War on HIV/AIDS" and, in response, WFC instituted training sessions on sexual and reproductive health to teach young women how to protect themselves from becoming infected with the HIV virus and how to avoid early pregnancy. Other WFC initiatives include providing scholarships and tuition assistance to young girls who excel academically, and training women to gain income-generating skills, such as bee keeping.

Now that women are making inroads on the political front in Kenya, WFC hopes to tackle some long-ingrained cultural problems. One way to do that is through the creation of a center for abused women and children. In Kenya women have historically been treated as property by their husbands, and no laws existed to protect women who were mistreated by their spouses. The purpose of the center is to offer safety and shelter to women and children. More importantly it will be an education center for both men and women to break the cycle of abuse.

Maathai soon began speaking out against the general corruption that ran wild throughout the administration of then-president Daniel arap Moi (1924–). Moi took office in 1978 and since then had ruled with a strong arm, imprisoning and sometimes torturing anyone suspected of opposing his authority. In 1991 Maathai formalized her political activism by cofounding the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy. As she explained to Michelle Martin, "I started out planting trees and found myself in the forefront of fighting for the restoration of democracy in my country." As a result Maathai became a particular target of Moi's terrorist tactics. For example, in 1992, while participating in a hunger strike with mothers who were protesting the imprisonment of their sons—men who were pro-democracy activists—Maathai was brutally beaten by police.

Throughout the 1990s Maathai was arrested, imprisoned, and intimidated time and again for speaking out against the Moi administration. She remained undaunted, however, and even made several attempts to run for public office. In 1992 Maathai was approached to run for the presidency, but declined. In 1997 she agreed to run both for the presidency under the Liberal Party of Kenya (LPK) and for a seat in the National Assembly. The National Assembly is the ruling body in Kenya (similar to the U. S. Congress) and consists of 210 members who are elected to five-year terms. Prior to the election the LPK withdrew their support of Maathai because of political differences—the party felt she would focus solely on environmental issues. Maathai also lost her bid for a seat in the National Assembly, coming in third.



Sumber :
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai
http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Li-Ou/Maathai-Wangari.html