Earth Day is beingcelebrated Wednesday throughout the world with the launching of the "Green Generation",an ambitious two-year program to motivate people to reverse environmental decline. It was started 39 yearsago to highlight the importance of protecting the environment and therebybenefit the world.
Wangari Maathai of Kenya is founder of the Green BeltMovement and Africa's first female Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. She told VOAthat her Earth Day message to the world is to practice theenvironmental "Three R's" ? Re-use, Reduce, and Recycle. Maathai also said Africa oughtto be in the forefront of the movement to protect the earth.
"EarthDay is a day that we all want to do something for the planet, and Africa inparticular ought to be in the forefront, especially for the protection of thenatural environment, especially forests and water and land," she said.
Maathaisaid the environmental movement is slowly gaining ground in Africa, although shesaid the continent still has a long way catch up.
"Weare still trying very hard, but Africa is still very much preoccupied withsurvival, and as you know we have so many conflicts. And so we find that thegovernments are still not prioritizing the environment, even though I want togive credit to the governments in central Africa, 10 governments, which havedecided to better manage the Congo forests not for them but for the world, andhave created a treaty. And now they are being supported by the Britishgovernment and the Norwegian government to establish what they call the Congo Fund," the Nobel Laureate said.
Shesaid African countries are still not doing enough to prepare to adapt to thechanges that will come as a result of global warming.
"Whenwe talk about global warming, many minds go to the Arctic Circle to the PolarRegions, and we forget that much of the global warming scientists are tellingus that the greatest negative impact will be in Africa, especially with thespread of desertification and loss of water and also loss of agricultural land.So in fact it is ironic because Africa should be really preparing veryseriously in terms of adapting to the changes that will come," Maathai said.
LiberianPresident Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, at a recent book launching event in Washingtonpraised Maathai for her efforts to promote environmental awareness in Africa,especially her tree-planting program.
Maathaisaid many African governments are beginning to adopt programs to protect the environment,although she said it took 30 years for them to realize the important work thatshe and her organization have been going.
"Iwant to thank the president (Sirleaf) for acknowledging our work. But it istrue that more African governments are now responding, and currently there is apush by both President Eduardo (dos Santos of Angola), President Obasanjo(former president of Nigeria), and the African Union, they are working veryclosely now with the European Union to create what is being called a GreenWorld. And I have been invited to play a part, especially through the GreenBelt Movement in mobilizing communities across Africa from Djibouti to Dakar. Inmany ways you feel sorry that it took 30 years and the Norwegian NobelCommittee for Peace for people at home to recognize that we were dealing with avery important issue that is crucial to Africa," Maathai said.
Maathai,who is currently in the United States to promote her new book "The Challengefor Africa", sent an Earth Day message to the world.
"Ihave a special message, and it's something that all of us can do, and that isto use the three "Rs", which means reuse, reduce, and recycle. And in Japan,using the same three "Rs" we adopted a concept that is Japanese called 'Mottainai'which calls for respect of our communities, of our bio-diversity," she said.
Maathaisaid she will on Earth Day 2009 have the honor to plant the one millionthtree of the Shaklee Corporation, a natural nutrition company based in SanFrancisco, California.