Margaret Akiga

Pioneer of environmental conservation in East Africa through grassroots tree-planting initiatives

Margaret Akiga (1905-1987) was a visionary environmentalist from Uganda who pioneered community-based reforestation efforts decades before climate change became a global concern. Born to a farming family in Buganda kingdom, she witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of colonial deforestation practices that stripped Uganda's native woodlands. Against societal expectations for women in early 20th century Africa, she organized the first women's tree-planting cooperative in 1932, planting over 50,000 indigenous trees annually across Mukono district.

Her innovative approach combined traditional ecological knowledge with modern agroforestry techniques, creating sustainable farming systems that preserved soil fertility. Akiga's work inspired the 1948 establishment of Uganda's first national park system, and her methods were later adopted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. She established the Uganda Wildlife Society in 1955, which remains a key conservation organization today.

Despite facing gender discrimination, Akiga trained over 2,000 rural women as forest stewards through her Abamati schools (tree-keepers' academies). Her legacy is evident in the 2019 Ugandan government's 'Green Uganda' initiative that aims to restore 2.5 million hectares of forestland. Akiga's story is preserved in the African Environmental History Archive, where her original planting logs and correspondence are digitized.