Name: Dr. Vandana Shiva Country: India Organization (optional): Navdanya Issue of Focus: Local and biodiverse organic fair-trade agriculture as a solution to climate chaos. Why should this person be nominated? Dr. Shiva established Navdanya, which means Nine Seeds in Hindi, in 1987. Though this organization, Dr. Shiva has been working directly with peasant farmers and rural communities who suffer most from poverty and hunger. Navdanya has trained more than 250,000 farmers from over 2000 villages in seed conservation and organic chemical-free farming. Their community seed banks play an important role in increasing local food security in times of increasing climate instability. Hundreds of varieties of rice, millet, pulse, oilseed, and vegetables have been conserved. Flood resistant rice varieties have recently been protected and distributed in regions hit by famine due to flooding caused by climate instability. Over the last year her achievements have included: - Bringing global attention to the land conflicts and rise in food prices brought about by the expansion of agrofuels, through national and international campaigns. Dr. Shiva has been instrumental in developing a movement and national convention against land grabbing. - Initiating a Bija Yatra (Seed Pilgrimage) in May 2006 to protest at the corporate monopolisation of India’s seed sector. This is locking thousands of farmers into a life of debt, which caused more than 20,000 farmers in Andhra Pradesh to commit suicide. The march marked 150 years of India’s struggle for freedom. - Giving indigenous seeds to over 10,000 farmers and widows of suicide victims to help them revive their agriculture. These farmers took a pledge to conserve, rejuvenate and protect the diversity of their foods and farming. - Helping villages to adopt organic agriculture and thereby create GMO free, patent free, debt free and suicide free villages. - Helping villages create ecological, organic, just and fair trade. For example, in Vidharbha farmers have been given assistance to create fair trade for their organic cotton, thereby helped them to break out of the vicious circle of debt. - Organising a National Convention to resist the corporate hijacking of the Indian retail sector and Indian land, and framing an alternative food security policy through participatory dialogues with small farmers and farmers’ movements. There are few people who are doing more to practically demonstrate the value of traditional organic and biodiverse farming methods as a solution to global climate change and the corporate takeover of our food systems, whilst vigorously lobbying for change at all levels. Dr. Vandana Shiva is a truly remarkable individual and a worthy candidate for this award.