friends of the earth international
media advisory
nobel peace prize winner congratulated by
friends of the earth
Friends of the Earth International today
welcomed the news that Dr Wangari Maathai,
had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for
her social and environmental work. Maathai, a
patron of Friends of the Earth International,
is the first African woman to win the
prize.
Meena Raman, Chair of Friends of the Earth
International, said:
“Wangari Maathai is indeed a very
distinguished African environmentalist who
has made an incredible contribution to
improving the environment and society, not
only in Africa but the world as a whole. We
sincerely hope that the award of this prize
will further boost her energy and efforts
towards further improvements to the African
environment which continues to face enormous
challenges in the 21st Century.”
Added Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA)
director Nnimmo Bassey: "This is a great
testimony to the resolute struggles of a
great woman."
Maathai is founder of the Kenya-based
Green Belt Movement [1], a grassroots group
comprised mainly of women, which says it has
planted 25-30 million trees across Africa.
She has served as Kenyan Assistant Minister
for the Environment since 2003.
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
Patrons support the aims of FoEI, and allow
FoEI and member groups to use their names,
but they have no obligations on behalf of
FoEI or its member groups.
For more information contact friends of
the earth:
Friends of the Earth International Chair
Meena Raman (in Malaysia) mobile
+60-12-4300042; office direct line
+60-4-8295612
Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA)
director Nnimmo Bassey (in Nigeria) Mobile:
+234-8023176577 or +234-8037274395
Friends of the Earth International media
coordinator Niccolo Sarno (in The
Netherlands) +31-20-6221369
notes:
[1] the website of the greenbelt movement
is http://www.greenbeltmovement.org
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