Nairobi, Kenya - Wangari Muta Maathai, the princess of environmental conservation, mourned globally for leading worldwide effort to save trees, was cremated in Nairobi Saturday moments after a state funeral service. The casket bearing the remains of the late environmentalist, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for championing global peace, environmental conservation and human rights, was made of a bamboo frame and weaved using the hyacinth, a water weed.

Her state funeral, only the third such funeral in Kenya’s almost 50 years of independence from British rule, was suggestive of her simplified life. There was no public viewing of the remains at Nairobi’s Uhuru Park gardens.

An African olive tree was planted by the late environmentalist’s children at the Freedom Corner, a section of the Uhuru Park, beautified by trees and named after Prof. Maathai’s struggle against human rights violations.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, honoured the “fallen national heroine”, saying her life positively impacted many lives, locally and internationally.

“She demonstrated by example the virtue of selfless service to the nation. Her initiative saw environmental conservation programmes. She planted trees to eradicate poverty and improve social-economic well-being,” the Kenyan President said.

Kenya’s former President Daniel Moi, and local rights activists largely skipped the state funeral, only the third such funeral since the 1978 funeral of founding President Jomo Kenyatta and later Vice President Kijana Walmawa.

“She has stood out as the most outstanding environmental champion. It was in recognition of her efforts to promote sustainable environment, democracy and human rights that she earned the Nobel Peace Prize,” Kibaki remarked.

“This was a greater award to a truly remarkable person who spared no effort to promote the environment,” Kibaki recalled.

Prof. Maathai’s passion for trees was unmatched. She reminding the world that every tree supported the lives of tadpoles and was the source of the world’s environmental wealth and was a valued creation of God that should remain untouched.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga described the late environmentalist as “gifted, visionary and humble”. He said the late Maathai was: “one of the greatest leaders of our country, the greatest heroine.”

“The site where we stand to pay tribute to her was because of her efforts. She single-handedly fought to stop the construction of a 60-storey building which would have defaced this park,” Odinga said.

Her struggle to block the construction at Uhuru Park inspired the fight to remove President Moi from power after donors cancelled funding for the complex.

An environmental icon whose drive saw the planting of some 40 million trees, Prof. Maathai’s Green Belt Movement, remains an institution of its kind in Kenya.

The mourning of the late environmentalist is expected to end with the planting of 5,000 African tree varieties. A musical concert is also planned.

Norwegian ambassador to Kenya said Friday’s announcement by the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee to award the 2011 Prize to three women, including Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, was in honour of the late Wangari Maathai.

The late environmentalist said she survived mostly by putting up public protests and avoiding breaking the law to allow the government an easy excuse to detain her.

The tree planting drive by the Greenbelt Movement was often considered a direct challenge to the government by the Moi administration.

In recognition of her service, President Kibaki honoured her with the greatest national award, the Elder of the Golden Spear.

“She stood for green movement. It would live on,” said Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, who accompanied Maathai to receive her Nobel Prize in 2004.

“This is just the beginning of the commitment to bring to fruition of what she stood for. We will plant so many trees in her memory that the world would truly wonder.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon sent a message to the funeral through the Director-General of the UN Office in Nairobi, Zewde Sahle.

Former UN-Habitat’s Executive Director Anne Tibaijuka, currently a Tanzanian minister, said the late Maathai was her close advisor, role model and attributed her success at the helm of the UN-Habitat to Maathai.

Regarded as a role model for girl-child education, Maathai enrolled in school at a time when education of a girl child was elusive.

She received a Ph.D in 1971 and was the first woman appointed professor in East Africa.

Pana 09/10/2011