[Urbanstudy] Concept Environmentalism

[Meera (Mansi) Baindur]

Dear geetanjoy,
 putting in some  food for thought.
Two dominant viewpoints are present in the history of conservation in
the US. 'Aesthetic- transcendental conservation ethic' propagated by
John Muir, Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson emhpasises the importance
of wilderness. For them nature was sacrosanct and needed to be
preserved. Man had to be kept outside being allowed in only for
restorative purposes. Wilderness could not be the 'habitat' of man.
On the other hand people such as Gifford Pinchot and Theodore
Roosevelt led the 'resource-conservation ethic movement' that focused
on multiple uses of nature. Logging, watershed protection, recreation
or game hunting could be encouraged in a sustainable manner with
abundance of natural resources. Aldo Leopold in his
"evolutionary–ecological land ethic" tried to bring these two streams
together and provide a philosophical foundation for conservation
biology.
 The various responses to these movements caused the two waves of
environmentalism, even in India.

In India, Gadgil (2004) states that the examination of the history of
conservation shows that most of it has been based on religious
practices and taboos or on the practice of keeping common people out
of the hunting preserves belonging to nobility. As both these
traditional systems of checks and balances have given way,
conservation becomes even more of a crisis point. Conservation
programs are creating islands of diversity surrounded by oceans of
devastation warns Gadgil.

 So when we talk of environmentalism it is important to look at what
it actually represents. Is it about making the environment suitable
for humans  in terms of governance  and management of resources air
water soil-at the local level or the movement to conserve nature such
as the movements of wildlife conservation?
 I think you will have to define what ' environmentalism' you are talking about.

I can hold a protest for stopping a hotel project in the Bandipur area
or for stopping eviction of tribals. would there be a conflict of
interest?
 I enjoyed your lit survey and thoughts
Keep posting
 Love
 Meera






On 24 Jun 2007 05:24:30 -0000, geetanjoy sahu <geetanjoy at rediffmail.com> wrote:
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> Environmentalism in India
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> This write-up outlines the theoretical perspective to understand environmentalism in India and then in the next posting it will highlight the role of different actors and their strategies in the environment governance in general and urban environmental governance process in particular.
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> Theoretical Perspectives
> As in other parts of the world, the concern for environmental protection and regulation in India emerged in the seventies and assumed public appeal in the subsequent years. Though the genesis of concern for environmental protection in India can be traced back to the early twentieth century when people protested against the commercialisation of forest resources during the British colonial period, it was only in the 1970s that it received public attention (Shiva, 1991). The evolution of environmentalism in response to industrialization revolution is viewed as first wave of environmentalism whereas the second wave of environmentalism emerged in the 1970s when world leaders realized the impact of development on environment and made efforts through agreements and treaties towards the protection of environment (Guha, 1991). The increasing concern for environment in India, however, needs to be understood in relation to the development discourse in India.
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> After independence, Indian leadership continued the pursuit of economic development based on modern industry and agriculture with comprehensive centralized planning. The national plans set the tone for a mixed economy with socialistic goals. However, resource use policies in independent India-first elaborated in the National Forest Policy of 1952-continued along the old colonial pattern of the Forest Policy of 1894, thereby reinforcing the state's right to exclusive control over forest protection, production, and management. The idea of "reserved forests" was justified in the name of "national needs." Indiscriminate use of forest resources were made for development projects in the name of national interest replacing the strategic needs of the colonial power as guides to independent India's forest policy (Madhusudan, 2005).  The benefits of these policies satisfied the needs of a few sections of the society and jeopardized the livelihood of majority sections of the society whose daily subsistence depends on the use and management of natural resources. Protest movements in different parts of the country arose in late 1960s in response to the perceived threat to their survival base and in demand for the conservation of renewable resources. The feeling that development was what life was all about, and that environment was a peripheral interest began to change in the 1970s, triggered by the increasing concern at the international level and emergence of societal forces challenging the state monolithic development policies in India. Although the emergence of societal forces in 1970s was not directly concerned with the environment, they made policy makers aware of a range of development problems, of which environment was the most prominent one (Krishna, 1996).
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> Since the last quarter of the twentieth century till mid-1980s, India had witnessed a number of environmental movements such as, the Chipko movement in the Himalayan region to stop commercialisation of forest resources, the movement against the dam in Silent Valley, Tehri dam, Sardar Sarvor Project, protest against illegal mining activities in Orissa, the protest against the commercialization of shrimp culture, protest against the displacement of people from forest for the protection of national parks and  sanctuaries etc. All these environmental movements revolve around certain competing claims over renewable natural resources; they also manifest the struggle for the rights of victims of environmental destruction. This process of environmental activism is interpreted by Ramchandra Guha within the political ecology framework. The political ecology framework explains these movements as a kind of struggle between vicious state and virtuous peasants, in which the large number of people, whose means of subsistence depends on natural resources demands that the use and management of resources should be transformed from the state to the community.
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> This process of environmental activism has challenged the Western notion of environmentalism which is a direct consequence of economic affluence and fixed their sights on the objective of upholding and promoting the quality of life, whereas the government and the vast majorities of people in the developing countries like India preferred the subsistence of the masses of poor people to the promotion of the quality of life of a few (Guha, 1991). In the west, environmental movements focus on consumption, productive use of natural resources and conservation or protection of natural resources. In India, the movements are based on use and alternative use of, as well as control over natural resources.
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> However, the emergence of environmental movements in urban areas, particularly, after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, mostly led by the middle class groups has raised some important issues to rethink and debate over the dominate strand of environmentalism i.e., environmentalism of poor (Baviskar, 2006). According to Baviskar, the process of environmental activism in urban India does not hold the theory of confrontation between vicious state and virtuous peasants.  Because, here one finds the state actors (legislature, executive, and judiciary) as well as the middle class groups led by NGOs, Lawyers, and Expert groups together to preserve the quality of environment. And in the process of attempting to preserve the quality of environment, state initiatives supported by environmental groups led by middle class had closed industries in different parts of India, thereby affecting the livelihood of both the Industrialists (capitalist society) as well as the workers.
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> However, the emerging issues revolving around environmental problems in both the urban and rural areas such as violation of the rights of workers due to close down of industries; displacement of slum dwellers for creating public nuisance; displacement of people from the protected areas; banning forest dwellers' right over forest resources etc. have not been taken seriously or sometimes neglected by the environmentalists across India. For example, the efforts made by the urban environmentalists to protect the environment and the right to life by shutting down and relocating polluting industries in Delhi have marginalized, displaced, or dispossessed thousands of the city's working poorer class. In the process of enjoying right to life, the urban environmentalists have failed to understand and associate themselves effectively with certain other intermediate sections of the society including urban migrants, slum dwellers, organized industrial labour and the lower middle class (Krishna, 1996)
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> Similarly, efforts to safeguard wildlife, national parks and sanctuaries have violated human rights (Guha, 1994). Encouraged by a powerful international lobby of conservation organizations and animal right activists in India, government of India has made protected areas a major component of national biodiversity strategies. On the one hand, conservationists encourage government of India to establish networks of protected areas that include all major ecosystems and on the other hand, the social activists challenge the displacement of people from the protected areas. The number of people displaced by conservation is difficult to determine, but estimates number in the millions and it is clear that poor people pay a disproportionately high cost for conservation, while receiving few of its benefits (Veit and Benson, 2004).
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> Likewise, environmental rights and cultural rights have a complex interrelationship. Often, the cultural argument reinforces the demand for environmental protection. For example, indigenous people in different parts of India have challenged the destruction of forests for commercial purposes, arguing that harm to the environment will also undermine the way of life of a people. In such type of cases, environmental rights and cultural rights coincide, revealing a confluence of right claims (Baviskar, 1995). Yet in many other contexts, environmental right claims conflict with cultural rights claims, as with endangered species policies (Madhusudan, 2005). At the crux of many of these cases are cultural differences concerning the use of particular endangered species by indigenous peoples or by other communities whose traditions require the use of animal parts.
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> These different issues in Indian environmentalism suggest that the environmentalism in India is not all about the protection of environment rather it has different shades which can't be understood without linking to each other. The emphasis on one aspects of environment, for example, use of resources for development has to be made by recognizing the finite nature of planet's physical resources-limits to growth. Similarly, on one side of the debate, animal rights activists and environmentalists contend that the creatures deserve protection for their own sake and to preserve biodiversity. On the other side, some cultures maintain that they are entitled to use the animals for what they regard as legitimate reasons despite national and international criticism. In such disputes, protecting cultural rights and endangered species requires a delicate balancing act. Finally, the demand for the quality of environment has to be preserved through the sustainable use of resources. In this way, environmentalism in India includes three important components: sustainable use of resources for livelihood, quality of environment to be preserved and environmentally sound development.
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> References
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> Baviskar, Amita (1995), In The Belly of the River: Tribal Conflicts over Development in the Narmada Valley, Delhi: Oxford Universtiy Press
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> Baviskar, Amita, Sinha Subir, Philip Kavita (2006) Rethinking Environmentalism: Industrial pollution in Delhi and Fisheries in Kerala, in Joanne Bauer (ed.), Forging Environmentalism: Justice, Livelihood and Contested Movements, New Work: M.E.Sharpe Publication
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> Gadgil, M. and Guha, R. (1994) Ecological Conflicts and Environmental Movement in India, Development and Change, 25 (1)
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> Guha, Ramchandra (1991), Environmentalism: A Global History, New York: Oxford
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> Krishna, Sumi (1996) Environmental Politics, New Delhi: Sage Publications
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> Madhusudan, M.D.and Raman Shankar, T.R (2003), Conservation as if Biological Diversity Matters: Preservation versus Sustainable Use in India, New Delhi: Sage Publications, Conservation and Society,
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> Veit, Peter G. and Benson, C. (2004) When Parks and People Collide, Human Rights Dialogue, Spring, No.11
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