Kenyan environmentalist and activist Wanjira Mathai has been named among TIME Magazine's top 100 Most Influential People in 2023.
Thanks to her dedication to creating awareness and providing solutions to environmental issues, Wanjira is the only Kenyan recognised in this year's list. She is among the two African women to make it to the list.
The other is Tanzanian Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema.
"Being recognised for Time 100 is a true honour. It's humbling because you never really expect it. I work at the intersection of all the things I care about, I love what I do, the transformation in communities, and landscapes, so the recognition is an extra amazing feather in my cap," Wanjira told The Standard.
Wanjira is a managing director at the World Resources Institute and chief Africa adviser to the Bezos Earth Fund, where she continues shaping non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and philanthropic work on the continent.
She directs attention, research and funding to help the most climate-vulnerable places and communities. She is also the current chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and the former chair of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.
"I would love to see the inclusive transformation from a people, levels of poverty are unacceptably high. I would love to see communities economically transformed, that is my number one vision. And that starts from landscapes being transformed, economic opportunities created in the green economy, green energy, and forestry," she said in an exclusive interview.
The TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list features a blend of the world's celebrated leaders, local activists, artists and athletes, scientists, and moguls.
Entrants, according to TIME, are recognised for changing the world, regardless of the consequences of their actions. Other Kenyans to make it to the list are environmentalists Phyllis Omido (2021), human rights activist Nice Nailantei Leng'ete (2018) and environmentalist Elizabeth Wathuti (2022).
Wanjira's mother, the late Wangari Maathai was named in the TIME 100 Women of the Year in 2020, a different category for women "who have wielded influence over the world." Maathai was also the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004.
