Vandana Shiva (born 1952) is an Indian physicist, environmental activist, and author who advocates for biodiversity, traditional agriculture, and indigenous peoples’ rights. Her work examines connections between environmental and social justice.
Trained as a physicist, Shiva shifted to environmental activism following the Chipko movement in the Himalayas, where women physically protected trees from logging. She founded Navdanya in 1991, an organization promoting organic farming and seed sovereignty that has worked with farmers to preserve indigenous seed varieties and transition from industrial agriculture.
Shiva’s concept of “Earth Democracy” proposes political and economic systems that recognize the rights of all life forms rather than treating seeds, water, and knowledge as private property. Her critique of the “Green Revolution” examines how technological approaches to agriculture affected traditional farming systems and ecological processes.
Her work on “biopiracy” addresses the appropriation of indigenous knowledge and genetic resources by corporations, arguing that traditional knowledge systems represent sophisticated ecological understanding developed over generations. Through Navdanya and the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, she has advocated for farmers’ rights and biodiversity protection.
Shiva has written extensively on seed sovereignty, water rights, and what she terms “living economies” - economic systems based on sustaining life rather than resource extraction. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993 for her work on seed conservation and farmers’ rights.
Key Concepts
- Seed Sovereignty: Seeds as commons rather than corporate property
- Earth Democracy: Political systems recognizing rights of all life
- Biopiracy: Corporate appropriation of indigenous knowledge and genetic resources
- Water Democracy: Water as public trust rather than commodity
- Living Economies: Economic systems that sustain life
Essential Works
- “Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development” (Zed Books, 1988) - ISBN 978-0-86232-823-1
- “The Violence of the Green Revolution” (Zed Books, 1991) - ISBN 978-0-86232-897-2
- “Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge” (South End Press, 1997) - ISBN 978-0-89608-555-2
- “Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace” (South End Press, 2005) - ISBN 978-0-89608-745-7
- “Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis” (South End Press, 2008) - ISBN 978-0-89608-782-2
Selected Quotes
Seed is not commodity. It is the embodiment of millions of years of evolution. — Stolen Harvest (2000)
Earth Democracy connects the particular to the universal, the local to the global. — Earth Democracy (2005)
The enclosure of the commons began with land; today it is being extended to life itself. — Biopiracy (1997)
Indigenous knowledge is sophisticated knowledge, not primitive knowledge. — Various writings
Further Reading
Biographical Sources
Key Books
- Staying Alive (Zed Books, 1988) - ISBN 978-0-86232-823-1
- Biopiracy (South End Press, 1997) - ISBN 978-0-89608-555-2
- Earth Democracy (South End Press, 2005) - ISBN 978-0-89608-745-7
Related Resources
- Navdanya
- Navdanya International
- Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology