Saving seeds

KATHMANDU, DEC 20 -

The Social Science Baha has just announced a lecture by Vandana Shiva on ‘Seed Freedom and Food Freedom in Times of Globalisation’ to be held on December 22 at the  Kailash Hall, Shanker Hotel. In the presentation, part of the Mahesh Chandra Regmi Lecture 2013 series, environmental leader Shiva will be discussing the impact of free trade agreements and movements started to defend seed and food freedom in the present-day scenario of globalisation and corporate rule.

The lecture will focus on how these ‘free trade’ regulations are designed by corporations to facilitate control over people’s lives and livelihoods, cultures and democracies by ‘enclosing the commons, and commodifying and privatising every aspect of life’. A pertinent instance of this would be the World Trade Organization-administered Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which imposes patents on seeds, allowing corporations like Monsanto to prevent farmers from saving seeds. Another example is the fact that the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture was written by Cargill, the world’s largest grain trading corporation.

Shiva is world-renowned for her work, particularly in human rights, ecology and conservation, and has been the recipient of the 1993 Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize), among other awards. She has made significant contributions—intellectual and campaign-driven—to diverse areas such as that of intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics and genetic engineering. Before turning to activism, Dr Shiva was a leading physicist who had conducted interdisciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore. She also 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 Organization (WEDO). She is a founding board member of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) and is currently Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology in Dehradun, India.

Shiva has also written extensively on a variety of environment issues and authored several bestselling books. Her recent publications include books such as Making Peace with the Earth: Beyond Resource, Land and Food Wars, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development, Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis, and Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace. She has also starred in documentaries such as Dirt: The Movie and The New Rulers of the World.

The lecture will begin at 3 pm. Admission is open to all