Chipko to climate change: Ramachandra Guha on roots of Indian environmentalism

In his latest book, Speaking with Nature, Guha traces the path of the earliest roots of environmentalism in India. He said environmentalism began from the grassroots in India, unlike in Western nations, where it arose after societies had addressed issues of economic growth and development.

A movement combining ecology and economy

Explaining the economic and historical context of the Chipko movement, Guha pointed out that conifer trees such as pine were found mainly in the Himalayan region. They acquired economic importance for many products, particularly for railway sleepers during the British Raj. In contrast, deciduous species such as oak were more valued for fuel and wood by rural communities, who often built villages below oak forests as those areas had water.

“They (the British) wanted their forest department to extract pine using silvicultural methods to promote pine at the expense of oak and beech. This continued after independence…pine became very valuable as a source of wood for paper, plywood and the extract of resin. So the Chipko movement combined ecology and economy…,” Guha said.

He also highlighted the role women played in the movement, recalling an incident from April 1974 in Gopeshwar district [present-day Chamoli district], when the men of a particular village were called to the district headquarters to receive compensation for land which had been acquired by the government during the Sino-Indian War. At that time, loggers from the forest department arrived and were stopped by the women of the village, led by Gaura Devi.

New awareness, new laws

Drawing a comparison with the United States, Guha referred to American marine biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, which exposed the destructive effects of pesticides and led to environmental laws and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

“Chipko does something similar. In 1974, the Planning Commission set up a committee on environmental protection; new water/air pollution legislation comes in….in 1980, the Department of Environment was set up and is now called the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change,” he said. “As a scholar in the 80s, it was thrilling to be part of the growing awareness that Chipko and other movements had sparked amongst intellectuals, policy makers, etc,” he added.

He also highlighted the role of the vernacular press in reporting such issues, including coverage of the Bhopal gas tragedy by Hindi journalist Rajkumar Keswani, and the degradation of Western Ghats ecology by veteran Kannada journalist Nagesh Hegde.

Guha also noted that the momentum of environmentalism weakened during liberalisation in the 90s, adding that the free market initially worsened environmental problems as several controls were relaxed.