Environmentalist and political activist Wangari Maathai died of cancer on 25 Sept. 2011 at the age of 71.
Her death was announced by the Green Belt Movement, the environmentalist organization she founded, which up to now has planted more that 40 million trees in a battle to slow down the deforestation of Africa.
In 2004, Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize-Stockholm’s recognition of her tireless efforts in the areas of sustainable development, nature conservation, defense of the rights of women and children, and insistence on greater transparency in government.
In the last years of her life, Maathai dedicated her time and energy to striving to help transform Kenya into a multiethnic, democratic society, for which she was slandered, persecuted, arrested and beaten.