Pooven Moodley

Pooven Moodley is an international human rights and environmental lawyer from South Africa and a social justice activist. He was previously the Executive Director of Natural Justice, a human rights and environmental justice non-profit law firm, representing indigenous and local communities across Africa in their struggles to stop the violation of rights and the destruction of their territories of life. Before joining Natural Justice, Pooven was the International Head of Campaigns for ActionAid and Country Director for Oxfam Great Britain in South Africa. He has contributed to a range of struggles across the globe starting with the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa when he was 14. He is a Council member of the ICCA Consortium (a global movement of indigenous and local communities protecting their territories) and the Chair of the Defending the Territories of Life stream working with environmental and land defenders.

He is on the Board of Awana Digital which backs up indigenous communities and their territories combining ancient knowledge with other technologies. He is also is on the Board of the Institute for Natural Law and International Board of 350.org. He was part of the Global Coalition of Civil Society, Indigenous People, Social Movements and Local communities for the Universal Recognition of the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment who received the prestigious 2023 United Nations Human Rights Prize for ensuring the UN introduces a new Human Right. Pooven co-founded the Earthrise Collective which weaves ancient wisdom, activism and alternatives.