155 Quotes by Wangari Maathai

But when you have bad governance, of course, these resources are destroyed: The forests are deforested, there is illegal logging, there is soil erosion. I got pulled deeper and deeper and saw how these issues become linked to governance, to corruption, to dictatorship.

There's a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.

I am working to make sure we don't only protect the environment, we also improve governance.

It would be good for us Africans to accept ourselves as we are and recapture some of the positive aspects of our culture.

We are very fond of blaming the poor for destroying the environment. But often it is the powerful, including governments, that are responsible.

In Kenya women are the first victims of environmental degradation, because they are the ones who walk for hours looking for water, who fetch firewood, who provide food for their families.

We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to conserve the environment so that we can bequeath our children a sustainable world that benefits all.

You can educate people on how to preempt their own conflict.

It is important to nurture any new ideas and initiatives which can make a difference for Africa.