There is no Planet B. We all have heard or read this statement over the years and are aware of the environmental concerns that are a reality of our times today. Fortunately, the voices propagating the importance of preserving our resources, reducing pollution and being cognizant of the effects of irrational urbanization are becoming louder and coherent. Environmentalists and activists across the globe, along with research and studies are making it clear that we need to act in the right direction for the conservation of our planet. However, in the 1970s when environmental issues were still shoved away as unnecessary concerns, a movement took up the mantle of putting the environment first. The Chipko Movement in India is a landmark event that brought social and environmental concerns right in the forefront of a nation that was ramping up its developmental and economic strides.
Let us learn a bit more about his historic movement and what it meant for generations to come. Also, the Chipko Movement is a fitting analogy to celebrating World Environment Day. Read on to see how!
World Environment Day
To raise awareness 5th June every year has been celebrated as the World Environment Day since 1973. On this day each year, the United Nations addresses a particular theme to encourage consciousness and understanding of the different reasons and ways to protect the environment. This year 2023, the theme undertaken by the UN under UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) is finding solutions to plastic pollution.
Chipko Movement
It is interesting to see that both the Chipko Movement and the endorsing of World Environment Day began in the 1970s. And hence, when we think of sustainability and environmental protection, we have to begin by acknowledging the impact that the Chipko Movement had on both the Indian and international community.
What is the Chipko Movement?
The Chipko Movement was a non-violent forest conservation movement. Today many scholars also call it an ecofeminism movement because women formed the foundational support and executioners of the Chipko Andolan. The name ‘chipko’ means to embrace and was used because the women villagers hugged the trees in order to save them from being cut.
The movement started out in Chamoli district Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttarakhand). Due to the high influx of the national and foreign logging industries massive deforestation was underway in the Garhwal Himalayas. This led to the destructive Alakananda River floods in 1970 which resulted in the washing away of homes, bridges and in fact, several villages. Due to deforestation, landslides and floods became a common occurrence in the region.
Also, the government policy forbade the local villagers to fell trees for fodder, fuel etc. On the other hand, big companies were allowed to cut the trees in the forest for their manufacturing needs. These economic, social and environmental causes laid the grounds for protests and the Chipko Movement.
The TimeLine of Events
The first event took place in 1973 when activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt founder of Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh along with the villagers of Mandal tried to prevent the sports goods company Symonds from cutting trees. When their protests were unheard, he led the villagers into the forest who embraced the trees to stop the feeling. After days of agitation the government canceled the company’s permit. This set off the start of the Chipko Movement which spread to other parts of northern India soon. In 1974, the forest department allowed the felling of trees in the Peng Mrenda Forest. The women villagers of the nearby Reni village drove the contractors away and this became another iconic incident, as women for the first time, without men, took up initiative of the cause.
Though the government set up institutions and committees, such as the Van Nigam, the movement continued to spread. Again in 1974 there was a struggle between the contractors and the villagers near Vyali Forest. In Kumaon, the Chipko Movement gained momentum in 1977 after the devastating landslides at Tawaghat. Sunderlal Bahuguna led the villagers in 1977 to stop the felling of the trees in Henwal Valley. It was here that the protestors including women were arrested for opposing the forest auction. And hence the movement now was no longer just a fight for economic survival but for conservation too.
Similarly, Chipko Movement protests were seen in many parts of the Himalayan region in the next few years. In 1977-78 women from Pulna stopped cutting the trees in Bhyundar Valley. In 1980 and until 85 such protests continued in the Doongri-Paintoli region.
The movement reached its climax when activist Sunderlal Bahuguna went on an indefinite fast demanding a ban on deforestation in the Himalayan regions above 1000m. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi set up a committee to look into the matter who then put a 15-year-old moratorium on commercial felling of trees in Uttarakhand Himalaya.
However, the Chipko Movement spread over a few years, making sure that their protests and demands raised a national consciousness on environment and conservation issues.
Impact of the Chipko Movement
There is no doubt that the Chipko Movement immensely contributed in giving importance to ecological issues and movements. Many scholars believe the Forest Conversational Act in 1980, as well as, setting up of a separate environment ministry were due to the awareness spread by the Chipko Movement.
The movement also brought to the fore several social and environmental understandings. It reminded people that there needed to be a scientific and calculated approach to balance the scales of economy and environment. It also generated the concept of ecofeminism, highlighting the role women play in environmental conversation.
Moreover, it aided in understanding that the locals do not wish to destroy their ecological environment. In fact, working alongside villagers is the best way forward to sustainable growth. But what the Chipko Movement perhaps left the maximum impact on was the acceptance of valuing the environment as much as human life. The idea of hugging the tree meant sending out the message of daring to cut it down over another’s body. And hence, when women hugged the trees, their unspoken words said that the life of the ecology matters as much as any other human life.
The Road Ahead
After decades of the movement, has life really changed for the villagers of the Himalayan regions? Is the Forest Conservation Act and government doing enough to ensure that both social and environmental injustice is wiped away? There is much to debate, especially considering the ground situation today. Though reserves have been marked, the economic and social plight of the local villagers is still far from over. Bureaucracy, corruption and poverty continue to hamper real growth and progress that the movement and its activists perhaps envisioned. Also, like any other major movement, the Chipko Movement too had its little fall outs. But overall, it still continues to stand to remain one of the most significant movements in Indian environmental history. And that has also been seen in the environmental protest over the years. As its main activists both Bhatt and Bahuguna say, various other protests in the region have been inspired by the Chipko Movement. These include campaigns against the Tehri Dam and the extension of the Vishnuprayag Hydroelectric Plant in Bhyundar Valley. Or more recently in 2018 the women of Balarampur Village resorted to hugging trees in the Jhinkargadi Forest to keep the timber mafia away.
Deforestation and world environment
Remembering the Chipko Movement in India as the World Environment Day draws closer is a fitting tribute to the movement, its leaders and the people who participated in it. Even when one looks at the statistics of deforestation across the world, it is evident that cutting of trees has been a fundamental concern and a root cause for environmental degradation. According to Global Forest Watch, in 2021 we lost 25.3 million hectares of tree cover. Deforestation leads to a complete breakdown of the surrounding ecology. Cutting trees impacts animals, soil, climate, as well as human beings. Each of them is connected in various ways to the forest.
The key is to maintain a balance that allows for sustainable living. Afforestation is a good way to counter the loss of tree cover. Also, an understanding of socio-economic and cultural facets can help to make important environmental decisions. The Chipko Movement has taught the world how mismanagement of forest resources can lead to natural and social disasters. Governments and policy makers must use the movement’s developmental graph to draft and implement policies that impact the environment and the lives of the people living in it.
Final Thoughts
Finally, the Chipko Movement is an iconic landmark campaign that can be touted as one of the earliest organized movements held post-Independence for environmental concerns. Undoubtedly, the social and economic causes of the movement are undeniable. But the movement definitely led the world into thinking about reckless destruction of natural resources.
