About Regeneration International
In June 2015, about 60 people from 21 nations, representing businesses, the farming and scientific communities, educational institutions, policymakers and NGOs, convened in Costa Rica to draw up a blueprint for an international movement united around a common goal: to reverse global warming and end world hunger by facilitating and accelerating the global transition to regenerative agriculture and land management.
In January 2017, Regeneration International (RI) achieved 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Today, RI engages with a network of more than 500 international partners and a growing number of Regeneration Alliances throughout the world, including in the U.S., South Africa, India, Canada, Belize, Mexico and Guatemala.
Our Mission
To promote, facilitate and accelerate the global transition to regenerative food, farming and land management for the purpose of restoring climate stability, ending world hunger and rebuilding deteriorated social, ecological and economic systems.
Our Vision
A healthy global ecosystem in which practitioners of regenerative agriculture and land-use, in concert with consumers, educators, business leaders and policymakers, cool the planet, feed the world and restore public health, prosperity and peace on a global scale.
Our Team
Prof. Dr. André Leu D.Sc., BA Com., Grad Dip Ed.
Dr. André Leu, D.Sc., was named international director of Regeneration International in 2017. Previously, he was president of IFOAM—Organics International, the international umbrella organization for the organic sector.
He was a founding member of RI. As president of IFOAM, he served on the RI steering committee.
During 50-plus years of visiting and working in more than 100 countries, André acquired an extensive knowledge of farming and environmental systems across Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Australasia. He and his wife, Julia, run an organic tropical fruit farm in Daintree, Australia.
André is an international lecturer who has spoken at the United Nations and at conferences, seminars, universities, and workshops. He has postgraduate qualifications in adult education and teaches at Universities, colleges, workshops, and online courses. He advises governments, industry, farmers, consumers, and NGOs on the multi-functional benefits of regenerative organic agriculture.
He is the author of “Growing Life,” “Poisoning Our Children,” and the “Myths of Safe Pesticides.” He has contributed articles to magazines, newspapers, scientific journals, book chapters, conference proceedings, newsletters, and websites.
Our Steering Committee
Vandana Shiva, Navdanya
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a scientist, philosopher, feminist, author, environmentalist and activist for peace, sustainability and social justice. In 1991, Shiva founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources. She is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award for her work in placing women and ecology at the center of the international development agenda. Shiva is the author of more than 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals, and more than 20 books, including “Soil Not Oil,” “Who Really Feeds the World” and “Earth Democracy.”
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, Main Street Project
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, native of Guatemala, is the principal architect of a leading Regenerative Poultry System design under implementation in the US and internationally, he directs the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance with a mission to scale-up the regenerative poultry and a family of economically, ecologically and socially related sectors that make up the regenerative poultry system. He has won numerous awards for his work, including the Twin Cities International Citizens of the Year (1996), and the Northfield, Minnesota, Service to Mankind Award (SERTOMA), 2008. He recently was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship and one of MOSES-2020 advancing organic agriculture Changemaker Award. Haslett-Marroquin serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa. He is a founding member of Regeneration International and multiple regenerative initiatives. He is the author of “In the Shadow of Green Man.”
Renate Künast, Chairwoman in Bundestag (German Parliament)
Renate Künast is a German politician of Alliance '90/The Greens. She was the Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005. She now serves as chairwoman of her party's parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Always taking a firm stand, she has put herself fully behind the Save Our Soils Campaign.
Ercilia Sahores
Ercilia Sahores is a founding member of and Latin America director for Regeneration International. She is also campaigns director for Mexico-based Association de Consumidores Organicos. Originally from Argentina, Sahores is based in Mexico City. She is a beekeeper and political scientist, specializing in international relations, adult education and community development. Sahores previously worked as executive director for several grassroots organizations in Latin America. She has more than 15 years experience campaigning and organizing in lower-income communities and rural areas. Sahores serves on several nonprofit boards, including Caminos de Agua in Guanajuato, México.
John D. Liu, EEMP
John D. Liu, filmmaker and writer, is director of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), ecosystem ambassador for the Commonland Foundation and a visiting research fellow at theNetherlands Institute of Ecology of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1997, Liu founded the Environmental Education Media Project to help educate the public about environmental and ecological issues first in China and then worldwide, producing, directing, writing, filming and presenting many ecological films broadcast worldwide.
Ronnie Cummins, OCA
Ronnie Cummins is co-founder and international director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and its Mexico affiliate, Vía Orgánica. Cummins has been active as a writer and activist since the 1960s, with extensive experience in public education, grassroots mobilization, and marketplace pressure campaigns. Over the past two decades he has served as director of U.S. and international campaigns dealing with sustainable agriculture issues including food safety, genetic engineering, factory farming, and global warming. Cummins has published hundreds of articles in the alternative and mainstream press. He is also the author of "Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers,” and a series of children’s books called "Children of the World.”
Precious Phiri, Earth Wisdom
Precious Phiri is founding director of EarthWisdom Consulting Co., which directs community organizing and training in regenerative and restorative agriculture and holistic grazing practices in the Hwange Communal Lands region of Zimbabwe. Her work focuses on training rural communities and collaborating with networks in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security for people, livestock and wildlife and reduce drought and flood risks. Phiri’s previous work includes nine years with with the Savory Institute Hub in Zimbabwe, focused on training and community engagement.
Hans Herren, Millennium Institute
Hans Herren is a Swiss entomologist, farmer and development specialist. He was the first person from Switzerland to receive the 1995 World Food Prize and the 2013 Right Livelihood Award for leading a major biological pest management campaign in Africa, successfully fighting the Cassava mealybug and averting Africa’s worst-ever food crisis. Herren is the president and CEO of the Washington-based Millennium Institute and co-founder and president of Biovision, a Switzerland-based foundation focused on food security and sustainable agriculture.
Steve Rye, Mercola.com
Steve A. Rye, is CEO of Mercola Health Resources, an online natural health organization featuring natural health products and advice from Dr. Joseph Mercola. Mercola.com is the most visited natural health website in the world. Mercola Health is dedicated to giving back to the community and partnering with key organizations on promoting key health policy initiatives and education related to health, food safety, and informed consent.
Jesus León Santos
Jesús León Santos is a Mexican environmentalist. In one of the most barren regions in the world, an indigenous farmer using ancient Mixteca traditions helped to conserve more than 4,000 acres of farmland, prevent massive soil erosion, increase local farm productivity, create more economic growth and, among other things, plant 2 million trees. For these efforts and others, Jesus Leon Santos of Nochixtlan, Oaxaca, Mexico, was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for sustainable development for 2008.