We wish to congratulate Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Her tireless work for the environment, empowerment of women and alleviation of poverty is having a powerful impact on Africa, and this recognition promises to draw further attention to her work and the work of others on the front lines of human rights and environmental protection.
We also congratulate the Nobel Committee for its brave choice. The committee’s recognition of the link between environmental destruction and human conflict is having a strong effect on public discourse and is raising awareness of the oft-neglected fact that a healthy environment is a key precursor of peace.
Critics of the prize committee have pointed out that many of this year’s Peace Prize candidates are working to ease intense global conflicts at a time of grave crisis. We believe that these candidates also deserve recognition, but the work of people like Wangari Maathai – and the many Greengrants grantees struggling for environmental progress around the world – help build peace from the ground up. Their work, if supported and encouraged, can prevent many of the conflicts that eventually escalate to regional or global proportions.
Wangari Maathai’s work may have already prevented war; there is no way to know. We do know with certainty that this work is an essential building block of peace. As resource conflicts, poverty and political instability continue to rise in the coming century, it becomes increasingly important for humankind to head off conflict at its source and address root causes. We are pleased with the prospect that the Nobel Committee has become a voice for a broader and forward-looking view about ways for achieving peace.