The Green Belt Movement’s primary aim is to raise awareness to help achieve environmental justice while working with the government. A lot of these issues were raised when Maathai realized that the deeper, more systemic reason for Kenya’s poverty and mass inequality was because of immense amounts of deforestation. The deforestation disproportionately affected women and poor families, as they required fire wood to cook and maintain their quality of life. The massive deforestation had devastating impacts on soil quality, which in turn affected their ability to produce the necessary crops for survival. This movement exists to help bring back adequate soil quality to the farms in Kenya, as well as trying to replant the trees that were copiously removed. It is worthy to note that most of the farmers in Kenya are women, so the movement is classified as a women’s movement and the primary goal was to combat soil erosion and maintain natural resources as much as they could.
While aiming to achieve environmental justice, Maathai also had a pro-democracy initiative that she implemented along with her movement. This helped set a goal for future generations of women that will continue with Maathai’s legacy and continue her movement. The Green Belt Movement matters because it was able to plant over 50 million trees and supply clean running water to over 5,000 people from waterways that were previously washed up. The Green Belt Movement was also able to restore local vegetation that allows farmers to maintain their livestock and maintain a suitable living environment. This movement matters because it is not like a typical NGO; the Green Belt Movement was able to work through the hierarchies that were already in place within the Kenyan government. This organization was able to work with the local people at a grassroots level, along with the government itself. Moreover, it was especially productive because the movement taught local women how to plant and care for seedlings, which gave women a sense of productivity and ability to produce positive change for their community. Not only was this movement incredibly productive, it was especially utilitarian. This movement taught women how to properly plant trees, while also teaching women how to invest in livestock to make a living. It was absolutely incredible and Professor Maathai is an absolutely amazing woman. Maathai’s approach of implementation was incredibly intersectional, as she maintained strong relationships with people in the Department of Forestry and people down at the local level.