Prof wangari maathai, nobel peace laureate and conservation heroine, is dead.maathai died aged 71, at around 10pm last night at the nairobi hospital after a long battle with cancer. Maathai will be remembered for her fight against an attempt to build a 60-storey building at uhuru park, at the centre of nairobi city. Known for her love for trees, maathai was in 2004 awarded the nobel peace prize for her conservation efforts, she was the first ever female nobel laureate from africa and the first woman in east and central africa to acquire a doctorate degree.