This TED Talk features environmentalist and activist Juanjira Matai, recorded live at We the Future 2019.

Have you ever been robbed or had something you value, forcibly taken from you against your will?

It's violating.

Feelings of fury, of assault, and of helplessness.

That's what corruption feels like.

Corruption is theft.

It is corrosive.

It is criminal. It is toxic, and it is predatory.

Now I'm from Kenya, and in Kenya, corruption takes different forms.

I want to share the story of Karura Forest with you. I love Nairobi. It's beautiful.

But it is a city of paradoxes.

It is at once beautiful and challenging.

But at the heart of this beautiful city that I call home is Karura Forest,

an oasis of green, expansive beauty that would be the envy of any city anywhere.

We almost lost Karurah Forest to corruption.

Word has reached my mother, Wangari Mathai, that Karura forest is under attack.

There was a construction site coming up right in the middle of the forest. Government officials

had stolen the forest.

They had divided, sold, and gifted hundreds of parcels of Karura to their friends and cronies.

Now, in 1977, my mother founded the Greenbelt Movement to plant trees across Kenya, restore green spaces,

and protect green spaces, much like Karura Forest.

She got together her friends and allies, and together they created what became

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