Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalization author.

Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books.

She is often referred to as "Gandhi of grain" for her activism associated with the anti-GMO movement.

Shiva is one of the leaders and board members of the International Forum on Globalization (with Jerry Mander, Ralph Nader, and Helena Norberg-Hodge), and a figure of the anti-globalisation movement.

She has argued in favour of many traditional practices, as in her interview in the book Vedic Ecology (by Ranchor Prime).

She is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank.

She is also a member of the International Organization for a Participatory Society.

Vandana Shiva was born in Dehradun.

Her father was a conservator of forests, and her mother was a farmer with a love for nature.

She was educated at St. Mary's Convent High School in Nainital, and at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Dehradun.

Shiva studied physics at Punjab University in Chandigarh, graduating as a Bachelor of Science in 1972.

After a brief stint at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, she moved to Canada to pursue a master's degree in the philosophy of science at the University of Guelph in 1977 where she wrote a thesis entitled "Changes in the concept of periodicity of light".

In 1978, she completed and received her PhD in philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, focusing on philosophy of physics.

Her dissertation was titled "Hidden variables and locality in quantum theory" in which she discussed the mathematical and philosophical implications of hidden variable theories that fall outside of the purview of Bell's theorem.

She later went on to pursue interdisciplinary research in science, technology, and environmental policy at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.

Vandana Shiva has written and spoken extensively about advances in the fields of agriculture and food.

Intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, and genetic engineering are among the fields where Shiva has fought through activist campaigns.

She has assisted grassroots organisations of the Green movement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria with opposition to advances in agricultural development via genetic engineering.

In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology.

Her first book, Staying Alive (1988), helped change perceptions of third world women.

In 1990, she wrote a report for the FAO on Women and Agriculture titled "Most Farmers in India are Women".

She founded the gender unit at the International Centre for Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu and was a founding board member of the Women's Environment & Development Organisation (WEDO).

This led to the creation of Navdanya in 1991, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade.

Navdanya, which translates to "Nine Seeds" or "New Gift", is an initiative of the RFSTE to educate farmers of the benefits of maintaining diverse and individualised crops rather than accepting offers from monoculture food producers.

The initiative established over 40 seed banks across India to provide regional opportunity for diverse agriculture.

She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, an award established by Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull.

Shiva's book Making Peace With the Earth discusses biodiversity and the relationship between communities and nature.

"Accordingly, she aligns the destruction of natural biodiversity with the dismantling of traditional communities—those who 'understand the language of nature'".

David Wright wrote in a review of the book that to Shiva, "the Village becomes a symbol, almost a metaphor for 'the local' in all nations".

Shiva has also served as an advisor to governments in India and abroad as well as non-governmental organisations, including the International Forum on Globalization, the Women's Environment & Development Organisation and the Third World Network.

She chairs the Commission on the Future of Food set up by the Region of Tuscany in Italy and is a member of the Scientific Committee that advised former prime minister Zapatero of Spain.

Shiva is a member of the Steering Committee of the Indian People's Campaign Against WTO.

She is a councilor of the World Future Council.

Shiva serves on Government of India Committees on Organic Farming.

In 2004 Shiva started Bija Vidyapeeth, an international college for sustainable living in Doon Valley, Uttarakhand, in collaboration with Schumacher College, UK.

In the area of intellectual property rights and biodiversity, Shiva and her team at the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology challenged the biopiracy of neem, basmati and wheat.

She has served on expert groups of government on Biodiversity and IPR legislation.

She participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions project in 2007.

In 2021, she advised the government of Sri Lanka to ban inorganic fertilizers and pesticides stating "This decision will definitely help farmers become more prosperous. Use of organic fertilizer will help provide agri products rich with nutrients while retaining the fertility of the land."

The policy applied overnight, with the main purpose to save State foreign exchange bills on imported fertilizers, caused a crisis with a significant reduction of farming output in several sectors, hitting the tea industry in particular and reducing rice yields were by one third.