The UC Irvine Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies presents the 17th Annual Margolis Lecture:

"The New Food Wars: Globalization, GMOs, and Biofuels"
with guest speaker Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founding Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, New Delhi

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Social Science Hall, Room 100

This lecture is free and open to the public. Parking is available for $7 in the Social Science Parking Structure (SSPS on campus map). For further details, please contact Cindy Ordonez, cindy@uci.edu or (949) 824-6410, or Sandy Cushman, scushman@uci.edu or (949) 824-3344.

About the speaker:
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a physicist, ecologist, activist, editor, and author of many books. In India she has established Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity conservation and farmers' rights, and she is the founding director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, a network of researchers specializing in ecology, health and sustainability in New Delhi. She has established a school for sustainability, "Bija Vidyapeeth," on the Navdanya Biodiversity Farm in Doon Valley. Her most recent books are Earth Democracy and Water Wars. Dr. Shiva has served as an ecology adviser to the Third World Network, which aims to bring about a greater voice for people of the Third World in achieving a fair and ecologically sustainable distribution of resources. She is also on the board of the International Forum on Globalization and World Future Council and is vice president of the global movement Slow Food International.

About her talk:
Across the world, food riots are taking place. In Mexico there have been tortilla riots. In Italy, pasta protests. In India, people have attacked ration shops in West Bengal. In Mauritiana and Mazambique, in Burkina Fas and Senegal, people have descended on streets to fight for food. 33 countries face social unrest due to rising food prices. These new food wars are a result of many factors including the globalisation of food and agriculture and integration of local food economies with the speculative global economy controlled by agri business giants, the impact of climate change, and the diversion of food and land for biofuels. Food wars are a result of technological and economic paradigms which create scarcity while they chase growth. Food peace is a result of paradigms and practices which build on the abundance of nature and share the gifts of biodiversity. The creation of food peace demands a major shift in the way food is produced and distributed and the way in which we manage and use the soil, water and biodiversity which makes food production possible.Whether the future will be a deepening of food wars or food food peace will be decided by how effectively we can create food democracy.

This event is sponsored by the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies, Associated Graduate Students, Center for Unconventional Security Affairs, Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation, Office of Research and Students for Sustainability.

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