Wanjira Mathai, 49, is the Vice President and Regional Director for Africa for the World Resources Institute of Washington DC, USA (based in Nairobi, Kenya) and Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation. She has also served as Chair of the Green Belt Movement, the environmental organisation founded in 1977 in Kenya by her mother, 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai.