2004 Nobel Peace Prize

The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Wangari Maathai. The prize was announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on 8 October 2004.

The citation

The citation reads: "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace".

The laureate

Wangari Maathai was born in 1940 in Nyeri, Kenya.

Why it matters

Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, which has planted millions of trees. She is the first African woman to receive the Peace Prize.

The prize

The prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor. It will be presented in Oslo on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite whose will founded the prizes in 1895.