Wangari Maathai
Kenyan biologist who founded the Green Belt Movement, linking tree planting with women's empowerment and democracy, and became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Those who left their footprint
What did they leave behind?
People who died of natural or other causes, whose science, teaching, farming, writing or organising still influences how humanity understands and protects Earth.
Rachel Carson
Marine biologist and writer whose 1962 book Silent Spring warned of the harm caused by indiscriminate pesticide use and helped shape modern environmental policy.
Yacouba Sawadogo
Burkinabè farmer who adapted the traditional zaï planting-pit technique to restore barren land and grew a diverse forest, inspiring farmers across the Sahel.
Jane Goodall
British primatologist whose long-term study of wild chimpanzees at Gombe changed scientific understanding of animals, and who built a global conservation and youth movement.