While wars and terrorism grip many parts of the world, attention from this week will be focused on what could be the greatest catastrophe in human-history what we have done and are doing to the ecology. Pope Francis will on Thursday issue his widely-awaited proclamation on ecology amid hopeful signs that world leaders at their climate summit later this year will take long-delayed steps to save the world from self-destruction.

The issues range from air pollution and climate change to rising sea levels and food democracy. Leading the worldwide campaign for food democracy is India’s prophetic physicist Dr. Vandana Shiva speaking out powerfully on vital issues that some people are not even aware of while others are not concerned. Dr. Shiva says “in the ecological worldview, when we consume more than we need or exploit nature because of greed, we are engaging in theft.

What we are seeing is the emergence of food totalitarianism, in which a few transnational corporations control the entire food chain and destroy alternatives so that people do not have access to diverse, safe foods produced ecologically.

Dr. Shiva visited Sri Lanka again last year to warn of the danger to our food security and safety. She gave some staggering facts and figures on how Mother Earth and fresh water were being polluted if not poisoned by the excessive use of agro-chemicals and how trans-national companies, with the support of self-centred vested interests here are dumping junk foods genetically modified and so-called fortified seeds. Even some Sri Lankan professional bodies are known to be collaborating with the hydra-headed transnational monsters in promoting glorified rubbish.

She says the notion of rights has been turned on its head under globalisation and free trade. The right to produce for oneself or consume according to cultural priorities and safety concerns has been rendered illegal according to the new trade rules. The right of corporations to force-feed citizens of the world with culturally inappropriate and hazardous foods has been made absolute. The right to food, the right to safety, the right to culture is all being treated as trade barriers that need to be dismantled.

Dr. Shiva warns that this food totalitarianism can be stopped only through major citizen mobilisation for democratisation of the food system. This mobilisation is starting to gain momentum in Europe, Japan, India, Brazil, and other parts of the world.

We have to reclaim our right to save seed and to biodiversity. We have to reclaim our right to nutrition and food safety. We have to reclaim our right to protect the earth and its diverse species. We have to stop this corporate theft from the poor and from nature. Food democracy is the new vision for democracy and human rights. It is the new vision for ecological sustainability and social justice, Dr. Shiva says.

Dr. Shiva says global corporations are not just stealing the harvest of farmers. They are stealing nature’s harvest through genetic engineering and patents on life-forms. Genetically engineered crops manufactured by corporations pose serious ecological risks. Crops such as Roundup Ready soybeans, designed to be resistant to herbicides, lead to the destruction of biodiversity and the increased use of agrochemicals. They can also create highly invasive “superweeds” by transferring the genes for herbicide resistance to weeds. Crops designed to be pesticide factories, genetically engineered to produce toxins and venom with genes from bacteria, scorpions, snakes, and wasps, can threaten non- pest species and can contribute to the emergence of resistance in pests and hence the creation of “superpests.” In every application of genetic engineering, food is being stolen from other species for the maximisation of corporate profits, she says.

To secure patents on life-forms and living resources, corporations must claim seeds and plants to be their “inventions” and hence their property. Thus some corporations see nature’s web of life and cycles of renewal as “theft” of their property.