PRESS RELEASE
December 31, 2004

ATP SALUTES 2004 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT WANGARI MAATHAI

Click here to view the letter sent to Wangari Maathai
from ATP Executive Director Jeff Masarjian

ATP's new tree nursery in Vanadzor is a central component of the organization's goal of planting one million trees per year in Armenia beginning in 2006

WATERTOWN, MA--For the first time, the Nobel Peace Prize has been linked with environmental issues, broadening the definition of peace and sending a message to the world that peace must grow out of the soil of democracy and
environmental health. In response, Armenia Tree Project (ATP) has offered its congratulations to Wangari Maathai, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Maathai is currently Kenya's Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources. As founder of the Green Belt Movement, she inspired the planting of 30 million trees in 30 years by women in Kenya, winning the support of the United Nations, governments of several European countries, and hundreds of individuals around the world.

Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month in Oslo, Maathai acknowledged the work of "countless individuals and groups across the globe" who "work quietly and often without recognition to protect the environment, promote democracy, defend human rights, and ensure equality between women and men."

"By so doing, they plant seeds of peace," she said. "To all who feel represented by this prize I say use it to advance your mission and meet the high expectations the world will place on us. In this year's prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has placed the critical issue of environment and its linkage to democracy and peace before the world."

Maathai closed her Nobel lecture with a warning: "Activities that devastate the environment and societies continue unabated. Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own-indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder. This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life."

"Like Wangari Maathai, we at ATP acknowledge the work of countless Armenians across the globe who are fighting to protect our life-support system-in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder. As we begin our second decade of commitment to the land, people, and environment of Armenia, our cause is more pressing than ever," stated ATP Executive Director Jeff Masarjian.

"Celebrate Wangari's victory by helping us expand our work in Armenia through vital environmental education, critical mountainous reforestation, sustainable socio-economic development, and collaborative community tree planting," added Masarjian.

ATP was founded in 1994 with the vision of securing Armenia's future by protecting its environment and advancing Armenia's socio-economic development by mobilizing resources to fund reforestation and community tree planting. ATP uses trees to improve the standard of living of Armenians, promoting self-sufficiency and aiding those with fewest resources first. In its first 10 years, ATP has planted and rejuvenated 573,000 trees at more
than 500 sites in 11 regions of Armenia.

For additional information or to support ATP, write to 65 Main Street, Watertown, MA 02472, or call (617) 926-TREE.

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