This was a victorious year for women environmentalists in Africa. The highlight was the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai in October. She is well-known to most Earthyear readers, as she has featured in the magazine fairly regularly over the years (see ‘Kenya’s green role model” in Volume 3 2003).
w
One of the wonderful things about Maathai winning the prize was the acknowledgement that environmental and social concerns go hand in hand. She won the award for ‘promoting ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development”. South Africans would do well to take notice of that eulogy — too often in this country it is assumed that environmentalism is the enemy of social, economic and cultural development.
On the same day Maathai won the Nobel prize, two of Earthyear‘s journalists were fêted at the annual SAB Environmental Journalists of the Year Awards. Writer Yolandi Groenewald won a merit award in the printed media category and editor Fiona Macleod won the prestigious Nick Steele Memorial Award.
We were delighted with these awards and have pledged some of the prize money towards buying equipment for Elinah Makhubele, a young conservationist from the Makuleke community in Limpopo. She works as a tracker and ranger at The Outpost in the Makuleke region of the Kruger National Park. She has the enthusiasm and the training, and is the kind of person we want to encourage to continue in a career of conservation.
Community-driven conservation efforts and eco-tourism are a focus in this edition of Earthyear. No doubt the article on whether golf courses are really an ecological disaster (‘How green is your golf course?”) will cause some controversy. Let us know what you think.
This year-end edition also includes some wonderful prizes and special offers. We thank our readers for their support in 2004 and wish them the best for 2005.