News Archive LAST UPDATE  June 18, 2008
May 27, 2008 Wangari Maathai visit
A warm greeting among friends – Professor Wangari Muta Maathai and Peace Boat Director Yoshioka Tatsuya
After spending a day meeting with government officials at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in May of this year, Wangari Muta Maathai dropped by Peace Boat's lively office and said she was thrilled to finally meet with members of the grassroots sector.

Professor Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Kenya-based Green Belt Movement, was in Japan to urge officials to base their development goals on three key pillars: good governance, peace, and the environment. “When we govern ourselves in a responsible way, when we respect the human rights of different communities, and when we respect the diversity we find on our planet earth, we are more likely to preempt the causes why people fight,” Prof. Maathai said. Most wars, she noted, are over land, water, forests, grazing ground, and such conflicts will likely escalate if our earth becomes further degraded and mismanaged.
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Wangari Maathai and family surrounded by Peace Boat staff members and volunteers
A strong supporter of Peace Boat, Prof. Maathai said the organization's voyages help people to realize that peace cannot be held in isolation from other issues. “With Peace Boat, you have an opportunity to see how the sea is being managed, how the land is being managed, how cities are being managed, and how people live in different parts of the world,” she said. Peace Boat study programmes in various ports, such as one in Kenya that helps the Green Belt Movement to plant trees in the country, also help people to broaden their minds and become more committed to working for peace, she said. Learning by doing is one of the greatest experiences we can have, she added.
Prof. Maathai is also a key international supporter of the Global Article 9 Campaign. To view her video message on this topic, please visit Article 9 on youtube here. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az97IBqGVP0]

Learn more about the Green Belt Movement: www.greenbeltmovement.org