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SEEDS
ARE NOT A
COMMODITY.
THEY ARE
LIFE.

Join the global movement resisting corporate control of life.
I.

WE
ARE
SEEDS

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Seeds are life refusing to end —
future folded into the smallest of forms.
They hold the memory of rain,
the patience of ancestry,
the stories whispered as we sowed
in times of hope or hunger.

Once, there were tens of thousands of rice,
Hundreds of maize landacres,
sacred herbs that cured diseases,
grains that danced in ceremony.

Today, most are gone —
erased by monoculture, by markets without mercy,
by laws that turn life into property.
These are not numbers lost,
but what no longer grows,
no longer feeds, breathes, remembers.

For generations, peasants and Indigenous peoples
have guarded seeds as sacred kin.
Where seeds adapt, so do stories.
Where forests thrive, so do languages.
The loss of one signals the erosion of the other.

Today, our seeds — and survival — are under attack.
UPOV hands our heritage to corporations,
profiting off our own survival
making it illegal to save, share, or replant
what we have always tended.
It doesn’t protect plants. It protects power.
It criminalises continuity. It outlaws memory.

But seeds have never belonged to empires.
They break through the concrete meant to contain them.
And each one that rises testifies:
life cannot be legislated.

II.

WHAT
EXACTLY IS
UPOV?

What EXACTLY is UPOV?

UPOV (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) is an international legal framework that gives corporations monopoly rights over seeds—while restricting the rights of farmers to save, reuse, exchange, or sell them.

Established in 1961 and most aggressively expanded in 1991, UPOV created the blueprint for treating seeds not as a common heritage, but as private property. Under the 1991 Act (UPOV ‘91), companies that develop or modify a plant variety can claim Plant Variety Protection (PVP)—granting them exclusive rights over the seed for 20–25 years.

→ IMAGE: LINKEDIN

Why UPOV is a threat to food sovereignty:

III.

THE
STOP UPOV
ALLIANCE

Out of
this struggle,
a movement
has taken
root.

The STOP UPOV ALLIANCE unites over 400 groups of farmers, Indigenous peoples, and allies across the globe to confront corporate control of life and reclaim seeds as a living commons. Together, they are exposing the harm of seed privatization and rebuilding systems of care and sovereignty from the ground up.

IV.

WE’VE
MAPPED UPOV
FOR YOU.

Maps are political. This map shows where seed laws are enforceable, though many borders are contested or born of colonization. We stand with all peoples resisting dispossession and affirm our commitment to the liberation of all lands and seeds.
V.

FREE
THE SEED

Seed sovereignty is under attack—but resistance is growing. Whether you grow food, sell it, cook it, write about it, or fight for it, you have a role to play.

This campaign builds a global front with those defending seed freedom — in fields, in courts, and in the streets.

1.

Stay connected by following the StopUPOV Facebook Group

2.

Support frontline seed defenders and grassroots campaigns.

3.

Learn more—explore our guide to UPOV and seed rights, and use the toolkit to help you amplify this struggle across your socials. Click here.

4.

If you’re already engaged in the fight for food and seed sovereignty, join the Stop UPOV Alliance, become a movement partner and help us organize. Send an email to stopupov@ourlists.org with ‘subscribe’ as the subject listing your:
  • Name
  • Organisation/Movement

Together, we can keep seeds in the hands of the people who feed the world.

Every action,
no matter
how small,
is planting
a seed.