The Chipko Andolan: forest conservation based on people's power

Abstract

The Chipko Andolan: forest conservation based on people's power describes the origins of the Chipko Andolan movement which has become famous for its work in preventing the destruction of forests in India. The movement began in the Uttarakhand region of the central Himalayas and has been active throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The paper discusses the background to the movement, its development and work with other other community groups in the region.

Municipal politics and forest governance: Comparative analysis of decentralization in Bolivia and Guatemala

“…The first seeks to devolve property rights over the forest to local individuals and communities. Based on the idea that local communities that live within forests, are primary users of forest products and create de facto rules that significantly affect forest conditions, scholars and policymakers argue that better and more equitable outcomes can be reached by transferring de jure rights over forests to the local level (Arnold, 1990;Ascher, 1995;Bhatt, 1990;Clugston & Rogers, 1995;Dei, 1992;Ghai, 1993;Ostrom, 1990;Perry & Dixon, 1986; for reviews, see Agrawal & Gibson, 1999;Baland & Platteau, 1996;Wiesner, 1990). The core idea is that local users hold important time-and place-specific knowledge necessary for the creation of successful institutional arrangements (Berkes, 1989;Bromley et al, 1992;Gibson, 2001;McCay & Acheson, 1987;McKean, 1992;Ostrom, 1990Ostrom, , 1992Peters, 1994;Wade, 1987).…”

Growing in value: NGOs, social movements and the cultivation of developmental value chains in Uttarakhand, India

“…The region that today falls within the state of Uttarakhand has a long history of popular mobilization for equitable and sustainable rural development (Guha 1989). The rural Chipko Movement, for which it is best known, sought to halt the exploitation of local forests by private contractors (Bhatt 1990;Gadgil and Guha 1994). The region has also seen struggles over the Tehri Dam (an enormous hydroelectric project that involved significant environmental devastation), various mining projects S51 and other ecologically threatening extraction initiatives (Bandyopadhyay 1992;Sharma 2009).…”

Gender Considerations of Technological Interventions in Agriculture, Sustainable Management and Development in Indian Central Himalaya

“…However, it has been argued that in the Indian Central Himalaya, state policies and Forests Acts are alienating the people, and women in particular, from forests (Arora, 1994;Bhatt, 1990;Guha, 1989;Nanda, 1999). Bringing forests under systematic management of the state resulted in conflicts over traditional forest use by the women and the state's long term interest (Bisht, 2000;Negi, 2000;Prabhkar, 2000).…”