India – the Long March to a Climate Movement

The Democratic Securitization of Climate Change in India

“…According to the World Commission on Dams (WCD, , p. 76) report, “land use change induced by displacement of people, resource extraction, and other economic activities may also form part of the net contribution to Green House Gas (GHG) emissions associated with the construction of the dam.” Against this backdrop, the government's climate‐centric discourse might transmute environmental movements into a climate movement. Arne Harms and Oliver Powalla (, p. 191) note that “with the unfolding of such a movement, the existing, sporadic networks of NGOs could enter into a broad Indian climate movement.”…”

“…Internalization and institutionalization of this societal discourse might induce political leaders to bring in various organizations and environmental activists into the climate change policy formulation and its implementation. Greenpeace India, Navdanya , TSRD, and WWF India actively participate and promote the livelihood security discourse of climate change at the grassroots level (Harms & Powalla, ). Navdanya —founded by noted environmental activist Vandana Shiva—holds that climate change is a “societal challenge” and a “source of big insecurity” (Harms & Powalla, , p. 185).…”

“…Greenpeace India, Navdanya , TSRD, and WWF India actively participate and promote the livelihood security discourse of climate change at the grassroots level (Harms & Powalla, ). Navdanya —founded by noted environmental activist Vandana Shiva—holds that climate change is a “societal challenge” and a “source of big insecurity” (Harms & Powalla, , p. 185). Navdanya and its members' active engagement at the local level help them to understand the threatening nature of climate change and its impact on 1.2 billion inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent (Harms & Powalla, ).…”

“…It was observed in the previous section that societal and environmental activists are excluded in the climate change decision‐making process. Exclusion of different actors engenders and breeds the idea of excluding the “climate witnesses.” Harms and Powalla (, 186) state that climate witnesses are “acknowledged persons from the rural communities who were supposed to input their expertise into a common plan about the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.” The government neither shares its ideas with the audience nor are the latter's knowledge and experiences counted by the former. Political leaders have been unwilling and reluctant to engage with different peoples' forums formed on the basis of people's mobilization on large dams, mining projects, and the displacement issue (Bidwai, , p. 62).…”

“…In India, environmental protests show that many stakeholders are keen to participate in various policy issues (Swain, ). For example, the People's Participatory Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Plan report was submitted to Uttarakhand's Minister of Forest and Environment in September 2009 (Harms & Powalla, ). It is claimed that the report's environmental significance at the local level was ignored (Harms & Powalla, ).…”