"Vandana Shiva has established herself as a leading independent thinker and voice for the South in that critically important nexus where questions of development strategy, the environment and the position of women in society coincide. In this new volume, she brings together her thinking on the protection of biodiversity, the implications of biotechnology, and the consequences for agriculture of the global pre-eminence of Western-style scientific knowledge." "In lucid and accessible fashion, she examines the current threats to the planet's biodiversity and the environmental and human consequences of its erosion and replacement by monocultural production. She shows how the new Biodiversity Convention has been gravely undermined by a mixture of diplomatic dilution during the process of negotiation and Northern hi-tech interests making money out of the new biotechnologies. She explains what these technologies involves and gives examples of their impact in practice. She questions their claims to improving natural species for the good of all and highlights the ethical and environmental problems psoed."
Note
Ordered from the publisher, Third World Network, November 2004; 12 usd.
Formatted Contents Note
Monocultures of the mind : The 'disappeared' knowledge systems ; The cracks of fragmentation ; The destruction of diversity as 'weeds' ; 'Miracle' trees and 'miracle' seeds ' The green revolution and 'miracle' seeds ; The non-sustainability of monocultures ; Democratizing knowledge Biodiversity: a third world perspective : 'The crisis of diversity' ; Primary threats to biodiversity ; Effects of biodiversity erosion ; First world bio-imperialism and North-South conflicts ; Limitations of the dominant approaches to biodiversity conservation ; From bio-imperialism to bio-democracy Biotechnology and the environment : Introduction ; Biotechnology and biohazards ; Biotechnology and chemical hazards ; biotechnology and biodiversity Biotechnology substitutes and economic displacement in the third world ; Biotechnology, privatisation and concentration ; Biotechnology, patents and private property in life forms The seed and the spinning wheel: technology development and biodiversity conservation : Introduction ; Technology development and sustainability ; Diversity and productivity ; Conservation of the seed and the spinning wheel ; Conclusion The biodiversity convention: an evaluation from the third world perspective : Appendix: Convention on biological diversity, 5 June 1992.
"Vandana Shiva has established herself as a leading independent thinker and voice for the South in that critically important nexus where questions of development strategy, the environment and the position of women in society coincide. In this new volume, she brings together her thinking on the protection of biodiversity, the implications of biotechnology, and the consequences for agriculture of the global pre-eminence of Western-style scientific knowledge." "In lucid and accessible fashion, she examines the current threats to the planet's biodiversity and the environmental and human consequences of its erosion and replacement by monocultural production. She shows how the new Biodiversity Convention has been gravely undermined by a mixture of diplomatic dilution during the process of negotiation and Northern hi-tech interests making money out of the new biotechnologies. She explains what these technologies involves and gives examples of their impact in practice. She questions their claims to improving natural species for the good of all and highlights the ethical and environmental problems psoed."