The Gaia Foundation

The Gaia Foundation is a worldwide active, UK-registered charity dedicated to fostering ecological governance and social justice. For over 35 years, Gaia has partnered with communities, Indigenous Peoples, and grassroots movements across the world—from the Arctic to the Amazon—to restore a respectful, Earth-centred relationship with the living world.

The Foundation’s work is driven by a deep understanding of the interconnected crises of climate chaos, biodiversity collapse, and social injustice. Their holistic mission is to "revive and protect bio-cultural diversity," which they view as essential for regenerating healthy ecosystems and strengthening community resilience.

Vandana Shiva on the smallholder farmers that feed the world

Core Areas of Focus

The Gaia Foundation concentrates its efforts across four integrated areas:

1. Earth Jurisprudence: Aligning Human Law with Earth’s Laws
   • Philosophy: Earth Jurisprudence is a vision for law and governance that asserts the Earth itself is the primary source of law. It challenges the dominant anthropocentric (human-centred) legal system, which treats Nature as mere property to be exploited.
   • Action: Gaia supports a global movement to recognize the Rights of Nature, establishing legal precedents that grant ecosystems (like rivers, mountains, and forests) inherent rights to exist, thrive, and evolve. A key initiative is the African Earth Jurisprudence Collective, which works with communities to revive ancestral Earth-centred governance systems that have sustained their lands for millennia.
2. Food and Seed Sovereignty: Protecting the Foundation of Life
   • Challenge: Industrial agriculture has drastically reduced global seed diversity, jeopardizing food security and resilience against climate change.
   • Action: The Seed Sovereignty UK & Ireland Programme is a flagship initiative that helps re-skill small-scale farmers, market gardeners, and community groups in the art of seed saving and local production. The program focuses on organically grown, open-pollinated seed varieties that are locally-adapted and resilient, aiming to decentralize the food system and ensure seeds remain a communal resource, not a corporate commodity. This work also involves education and advocacy to create a policy environment supportive of biodiverse seed systems.
3. Beyond Extractivism: Defending Lands and Waters
   • Alliance: Gaia is a founding member of the Yes to Life No to Mining network, a powerful global alliance.
   • Action: This work directly supports communities on the front lines who are defending their ancestral territories from destructive extractive industries (like mining, oil, and gas). By amplifying the voices of Earth defenders and providing strategic and legal support, the Foundation works to prevent "no go" areas for mining, protect vital watersheds, and promote non-extractive, regenerative economies.
4. Sacred Lands and Waters: Restoring Cultural Connection
   • Principle: For countless Indigenous and traditional communities, sacred natural sites (forests, mountains, rivers) are the foundation of their culture, identity, and governance. Their protection is synonymous with biocultural survival.
   • Action: Gaia accompanies these communities in efforts to revive the ceremonies, traditions, and customary laws associated with their sacred natural sites, strengthening their self-governance and ability to defend these areas against external threats, thereby maintaining biodiversity and ecological health.

The Gaia Foundation has earned a reputation for building long-lasting, trust-based "affectionate alliances" that prioritize knowledge transfer, peer-to-peer exchange, and empowering communities to determine their own futures.