Patricia Bacinjira

Rwandan environmental activist who revolutionized community-based conservation

Patricia Bacinjira (b. 1978) stands as Africa's pioneer of grassroots ecological restoration through her organization TerraWomen. Born in the aftermath of Rwandan genocide, she developed tree-planting cooperatives that simultaneously healed war-torn communities and ecosystems.

Her "One Basket, One Tree" program trained 12,000 women refugees to cultivate native seedlings using recycled ammunition casings as planters. This initiative restored 8,400 hectares of degraded land within 5 years while providing economic independence through sustainable charcoal alternatives.

Bacinjira's most radical contribution was establishing Africa's first all-female forest ranger corps, combating illegal logging through non-violent citizen patrols. Her TED Talk "When Trees Become Mothers" redefined environmentalism through matriarchal leadership models.