The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which has its headquarters in Kenya, said it was "absolutely delighted" that the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to Wangari Maathai. "She is probably the most visible woman in defense of the environment, maybe in the world, but most certainly in Africa", Eric Falt, a spokesman for UNEP, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "Maathai is one of only a handful of women around the world who have spent their entire lives working for the environment", said Falt. At the Nairobi offices of the Green Belt Movement, which Maathai founded in 1977, the employees were bursting with joy when reached by dpa. "We feel so excited. Extremely excited!", said Muguru Muchai, a project officer at the Green Belt Movement in Nairobi. "Everybody was sitting by the radio, and now we are receiving calls from all the corners of the world", she told dpa. Maathai was visiting her constituency in Nyeri, close to Mount Kenya, when the award was announced. In Nairobi, Muchai said the prize awarded to their founder would boost the work of the movement, and she said "now we will be able to work even harder". The work of the Green Belt Movement to protect the environment has been a model for several other African countries. Eric Falt of UNEP said it was important that the link between peace and the environment was recognized. "The environment and conflict are absolutely related. We see it in places like Afghanistan and Liberia", he said, adding that the environment is often devastated by conflict, and access to and control over natural resources are major causes for conflict.
