Vandana Shiva kicks off Organic Pavilion

(ANSA) - Milan, May 18 - Indian environmentalist, activist and author Vandana Shiva inaugurated Milan Expo 2015's Organic Pavilion by planting Indian vegetables in its Biodiversity Park on Monday. "The more we destroy biodiversity, the more vulnerable agriculture becomes. Let's avoid doing it," said Shiva, 61, who founded the biodiversity nonprofit Navdanya International and has written more than 20 books.
    The Biodiversity Park leads to the entrance of the Organic Pavilion in the food-themed world fair that opened May 1st and runs for six months.
    "This park is the most beautiful and most important place in all of Expo," Shiva added.
    "It is a joy for me to cross it. All of Expo should be like this, a big biodiversity park," Shiva went on.
    Flanked by a delegation of women from the Italian Confederation of Farmers (CIA), the Indian activist planted a small garden plot with Indian squash, okra and melon seeds.
    In homage to Italy, she also planted Italian organic seeds, including spelt and beans.
    "Let's hope they are happy here and that they multiply," said Shiva.
    During her walk, the activist also stopped to photograph the Coca Cola pavilion, located right next to the park. "It is nice that there is a Biodiversity Park, which gives us many opportunities, but it is striking that on the right, there is a pavilion like Coca-Cola's," she commented.
    Shiva has made a life of fighting against the GMOs and patents of multinational corporations that, in her opinion, "are poisoning the planet".
    "The choice of organic farming is the first essential step to restoring fertility to the ground. And its development on a global scale is the first, necessary step for launching a new circular economy," she said. The circular economy is the goal of the Manifesto Terra Viva (Live Earth Manifesto), drafted by 20 experts from all over the world, of which she is the spokesperson.