Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth

Product Description

Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth lays out the scientific, legal, political, and cultural struggle to defend the sovereignty of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge. Corporate war on nature and people through patents and corporate Intellectual Property Rights has unleashed an epidemic of biopiracy resulting in important legal battles fighting efforts to patent the rights to many plants, including basmati, neem, and wheat. The author presents details of the specific attempts made by corporations to secure these patents and the legal actions taken to fight them. The book goes beyond the legal struggle to position the necessary solutions to corporate control including the exploring the Rights of Nature and proposing a framework for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. It is the first detailed legal history of the international and national laws related to biodiversity and Intellectual Property Rights.

Review

“If you ever wondered what a Saint would look like in our modern era, search no further. Vandana Shiva has emerged as one of the globe’s most effective advocate for family farmers, the poor, safe, nutritious food, dignified communities, humane working conditions, democracy, and biodiversity. Her profound spiritual dimension forms the platform for her ideals, and gives her the resilience to withstand daily slanders, vilification, and censure from the global power centers. She risks her life, safety, and freedom in a fierce struggle against the Chemical Cartel; tyrannical governments and the homicidal corporations conspiring in tandem to privatize the commons, commoditize the planet, subjugate its people, and censor dissent. In her new book, Reclaiming the Commons, Vandana argues that “the commons”, the shared assets of community―air water, wildlife―form a social safety net for the poor, and provide the essential foundation stone for dignified, democratized, communities. Vandana brilliantly and pragmatically lays out the philosophical and logistical underpinnings of her battle to preserve the commons as public asset, and to protect them from privatization by the wealthy, authoritarian elite.”- Robert F Kennedy Jr
“As she has, nonstop for 30 years, Vandana Shiva has done it again. Reclaiming the Commons is a magnificent, profound, timely and politically vital book; a vital aid to a magnificent local resistance movement in India. At a crucial moment in history, as a handful of gigantic global corporations are aggressively seeking ultimate control over global agricultural resources and products, Shiva steps forward and leads the movement to block their incursions. As she has done so many times before, she clearly articulates, creates and sustains a vital, powerful resistance movement, both globally, and notably in her native India, where global corporatists’ powers seek full take-over. Shiva brilliantly articulates what is at stake in the battle between “two paradigms”, that of an age-old system based on local community rights, and the outrageous over-reach of global corporations seeking invasion and control of local systems, notably food and agriculture. This is a profound and disturbing book, brilliantly articulated in exquisite detail by the one most powerful local forces on these matters. It is a vital and illuminating work; timely, powerful, and profound.”- Jerry Mander
“A powerful, deeply moving call to rethink the very way we understand life, including our own. We will protect and, ultimately―save―life on this planet only as we experience ourselves in relation to all―only as we move from the manufactured fear of scarcity to fall in love with the majesty our connectedness. Reclaiming the Commons is about reclaiming ourselves. I love this book.” – Frances Moore Lappe

About the Author

Vandana Shiva is a scholar, author, environmental activist, and food sovereignty advocate. Her pioneering work around food sovereignty, t