Navdanya
Topic: Biodiversity and its Conservation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Forest and Wildlife Resources"
Meaning
Navdanya means "nine seeds". It is a movement that Vandana Shiva founded in 1987. It runs community seed banks, where farmers store and share native seeds. It also promotes organic farming, which uses no synthetic fertilisers or pesticides. Navdanya protects agro-biodiversity, which is under threat when farmers switch to a few high-yielding varieties. It also defends farmers' right to save their own seeds.
Example
Navdanya's community seed banks keep many traditional varieties of rice, millets and pulses that farmers had stopped growing. Its farm and seed bank are in the Doon Valley of Uttarakhand.
Don't confuse with
- Beej Bachao Andolan: this is also a seed-saving movement in Uttarakhand, but it is a farmers' movement that began in Tehri Garhwal in the late 1980s, led by Vijay Jardhari. Navdanya is an organisation that Vandana Shiva started in 1987.
Related concepts
- Community participation in conservation
- Bhairodev Dakav Sonchuri
- Beej Bachao Andolan
- Bishnoi community
- Sacred grove
- Niyamgiri Hills
- Rights of nature