Pat Roy Mooney, for more than thirty years, has worked with civil society organizations on international trade and development issues related to

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

and emerging technologies. He was born and lived on the Canadian prairies for many years where his five children were raised. He now resides just outside the village of Wakefield, Quebec. The author or co-author of several books on the politics of biotechnology and biodiversity, Pat Mooney received the Right Livelihood Award with

Cary Fowler Morgan Carrington "Cary" Fowler Jr. (born 1949) is an American agriculturalist and the former executive director of the Crop Trust, currently serving as a senior advisor to the trust. On May 5th, Dr. Fowler joined the U.S. Department of State as ...

in the Swedish Parliament in 1985 for "working to save the world's genetic plant heritage." In 1998 Mooney received the Pearson Medal of Peace from Canada’s Governor General. He also received the American "Giraffe Award" given to people "who stick their necks out". Pat Mooney has no formal university training, but is widely regarded as an authority on agricultural biodiversity and new technology issues. In June of 2017, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Mexican Instituto de Estudios Criticos, 17. Together with Cary Fowler and Hope Shand, Pat Mooney began working on the "seeds" issue in 1977. In 1984, the three co-founded RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation International), whose name was changed to ETC Group (pronounced "etcetera" group) in 2001. ETC Group is a small international CSO addressing the impact of new technologies on vulnerable communities. Mooney’s more recent work has focused on geoengineering, nanotechnology,

synthetic biology Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature. It is a branch of science that encompasses a broad ran ...

and global governance of these technologies as well as corporate involvement in their development. ETC has offices in Canada, the United States, and Mexico; and works closely with CSO partners around the worl

Writings (selection)

*''Seeds of the Earth: A Private or Public Resource?'',

Food First Food First, also known as the Institute for Food and Development Policy, is a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, California, USA. Founded in 1975 by Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins, it describes itself as a "people's think tank an ...

Books, 1983 *''Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity'', University of Arizona Press, 1990,

External links

Website of Action Group ETC

Pearson Medal of Peace - Pat Roy Mooney

Pat Mooney on the Dangers of Geoengineering to Combat Climate Change
- video report by ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mooney, Pat Roy 1947 births Canadian environmentalists Canadian non-fiction writers Living people Synthetic biologists