Vandana Shiva (in)
Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental leader, ecofeminist, activist and thinker. She is the author of many books, including „Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, and Privatization“, „Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge“, „Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace“ and „Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis“.
Time magazine recognized Vandana Shiva as an environmental hero, and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators in Asia. Among many other honors, she has received the Alternative Nobel Prize and the Global 500 Award of the United Nations.
The founder of Navdanya (Nine Seeds), a movement promoting biodiversity, farmers rights and use of native seeds, she also set up the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in her mother’s cowshed in 1997. Its studies have validated the ecological value of traditional farming and been instrumental in fighting destructive development projects in India. Before becoming an activist, Shiva was one of India’s leading physicists. She holds a master’s degree in the philosophy of science and a PhD in particle physics.