Environmentalist Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan woman, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 for her work to promote justice, freedom, and ecological viability in Africa. She is the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in the history of the award. The award follows closely on the announcement that an Austrian feminist writer, Elfriede Jelinek, had won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Linda Buck shares the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

• Wangari Maathai Biography on this site
• BBC Profile
• Books on Women Environmentalists - including one that includes a profile of Wangari Maathai
• On Wangari Maathai from the Green Belt Movement

News stories:

• Official Nobel Peace Prize 2004 Press Release
• Bloomberg.com
• Norwegian Embassy
• Inter Press Service News Agency

More women 2004 Nobel Prize winners:

• Nobel Prize in Literature 2004: Elfriede Jelinek
• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004: shared by Linda B. Buck

Related reading:

• African History
• Environmental Issues