Sofía Gatica

Argentinian mother turned environmental activist stopping pesticide poisoning

Sofía Gatica (b.1966) is a self-taught environmental leader from Ituzaingó, Argentina. After losing her third child to leukemia linked to agricultural pesticides in 2004, she mobilized other mothers to form Mothers of Ituzaingó Movement. Her grassroots campaign led to a 2010 Supreme Court ruling banning aerial pesticide spraying near homes. This victory inspired similar movements across Latin America. Gatica's book 《The Bees of Ituzaingó》 chronicles her discovery that bee colony collapses were early warnings of human health risks. In 2013 she co-founded Red CLIMA, a regional network now operating in 8 countries. Her advocacy contributed to Argentina's 2017 pesticide labeling law, and she was Greenpeace's 2019 Global Environmental Hero. Current projects include training indigenous communities in biodynamic farming through her nonprofit Agroecología Sin Fronteras.