PLENARY: Restoring Right Relationship with EARTH ~ Vandana Shiva and Linda Tucker

During this plenary Vandana Shiva and Linda Tucker will share their wisdom, experience and insights around the following questions:

• How can we restore the right relationship with the Foundation of Life: EARTH?
• Why is this so important?
• How can we unite as humanity to take this forward?

Vandana Shiva is an intellectual and activist from India, who has worked in a wide range of different fields inspiring change globally. Her activism is rooted in promoting counter-development and supporting grassroots networks, women’s rights and ecology. As the author of numerous important books and articles, Shiva has shown a lifetime interest in campaigning against genetic engineering and the negative impacts of globalisation, advocating for the crucial importance of preserving and celebrating biodiversity.

Shiva’s record has been that of the totally committed, very productive and effective activist-advocate-intellectual. As an activist, she has coordinated, supported and learned from grassroots networks on a wide range of issues across India. As an advocate, especially in international fora, she has proven to be one of the most articulate spokespersons of counter-development in favour of people-centred, participatory processes. As an intellectual, she has produced a stream of important books and articles, which have done much both to form and address the agenda of development debate and action. https://www.navdanya.org/

Linda Tucker
In the midst of a global lion crisis that treats Africa’s most sacred animals as a killing commodity in cross-border trade, Linda Tucker has dedicated her life to the solution. After being rescued by a Tsonga medicine woman from a life-threatening encounter with a pride of lions in 1991, Linda Tucker gave up a career in international marketing to become a conservationist. She has dedicated her life to ensuring the flourishing of the critically endangered White Lions, regarded as sacred animals, yet amongst the world’s most targeted trophy. Founder of the Global White Lion Protection Trust and Linda Tucker Foundation, she and her team have successfully rewilded the White Lions, securing vast protected heritage lands in the heart of their ancestral territories in UNESCO’s Kruger to Canyons Biosphere. https://whitelions.org/