Vandana Shiva
Vandana SHIVA is an internationally renowned personality in the defence of the environment. She is a Theoretical Physicist and Science Philosopher, eco-feminist and Indian writer. In 1993, she was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize. Shiva was born in Dehra Dun (Uttaranchal), formerly part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In the seventies, she was part of the Chipko movement, mainly composed of women who adopted the tactics of ecological denunciation by hugging the trees in order to prevent their felling.

In 1982, she created the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which brought about the impulse and the diffusion of ecological agriculture (the Navdanya Programme), the study and the maintenance of bio-diversity (University of Seeds, International College for Sustainable Life), the promotion of women’s involvement in the ecological movement (Diverse Woman for Diversity), and the regeneration of democratic thinking (Living Democracy Movement).
Presently, she is playing a prominent role in the International Forum on Globalisation, and is a distinguished member of the anti-globalisation movement. She is the Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy of India and a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oslo, Norway. Vandana Shiva is a woman committed to her times. She is a pacifist and a follower of Gandhi. She is the author of numerous books.

Juan Valero
Twenty years ago, it already became obvious to Juan Valero that the future which lays ahead of us would be the one of companies ready to offer more to the environment than what they consume. That without trees there is no future, and that they are the guarantee for a solid and lasting economy.
One day in 2000, he returned to his native Riópar and founded Maderas Nobles de la Sierra de Segura. He made the motto “think globally, act locally” his own. He persevered with head, heart and soul in his endeavour. And his passion for the trees ended up becoming a profitable, exemplary and pioneering company, which now boasts more than 4,000 clients.

A highlander, a  conscientious ecologist and a fierce militant, he  commits himself totally to causes where nature can be in  danger of extinction. Lover of flamenco, literature and  direct action, Juan Valero is for many the entrepreneur “albaceteño”  who  succeeded in bringing  Al Gore to Barcelona for the “First Meeting of Friends of the Trees”.
And for many others, the majority in fact, he is the living example of a genuine agent of change who  acts in favor of  nature, claiming that betting on nature is the best business deal.