Nelson Mandela would be the first person that most of us would mention when asked to name an influential African, but not far behind him would be a woman who has just died at the age of 71.

Professor Wangari Maathai was the first Kenyan woman to earn a PhD, and certainly the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004. The citation for this award referred to her outstanding work in sustainable development, democracy and peace, and she merited every one of the commendations.

She was as well-known and effective in searching out political corruption, the peaceful resolution of discord and the empowerment of women as she was for her environmental work, but that may have made the most impact on the rest of the world.

As an academic scientist, specialising in zoology and biology, she had a keen appreciation of the way that all elements of the natural world are interrelated. In particular, she understood that forest degradation, water problems and food shortages were all part of the human abuse of the landscape and that more trees were part of the answer. They would combat deforestation, stop soil erosion and induce more rainfall.

As part of the Green Belt Movement she encouraged the establishment of 600 tree nurseries that led to the planting of 40 million trees and the training of 30,000 women in forestry and bee-keeping.

She then helped set up the world-wide Billion Tree Campaign with the rallying cry: “Stop talking, dig holes and plant trees”. She was so successful that most countries joined in, such as Turkey promising and planting 200 million trees, and now the target has been well and truly passed with the total around ten billion and still rising. That’s a lot of CO2 taken out of the air and stored in trees.

We can be rightly proud in Bradford that her message is properly understood by the local Forest of Bradford campaign. It has planted 330,000 broadleaved trees in the last ten years and now aims to cover another 380 hectares (each a plot of land 100m2) with 670,000 more to bring the district’s tree cover up to the national average of around ten per cent.

To help, the Council has just published a new Woodland Strategy, and it’s available for comment until the end of January – just search online for Bradford Woodlands Strategy, and then e-mail woodlands@bradford.gov.uk.

There are 17 ’Friends of’ groups caring for many of Bradford’s woods, such as Northcliffe, Judy, and Bierley. They need all the help they can get, as do the 600 or so wild deer that share the local wooded areas with the rest of us.