Re-evaluating the Chipko (Forest Protection) movement in India byShinya Ishizaka
Chipko Movement- Final
Transcript of Chipko Movement- Final
CHIPKO MOVEMENT
Foot March for Chipko Movement
Meeting for Chipko Movement
INTRODUCTION• The Chipko movement was started to prevent the
cutting of trees.
• Against those people, who were destroying the natural resources of the forests
• Chipko Movement aimed at protection and conservation of trees and forests from being destroyed.
HISTORY• Birth place - Gopeshwar in District Chamoli in 1973
• First Chipko action March 1974 in Reni village.
HISTORY
• Spread throughout the Uttaranchal Himalayas by the end of the decade.
• Based on the Gandhian philosophy
• The name of the Chipko moment originated from the word ‘embrace’
Major people in the Chipko Movement
• Village women• Amrita Devi• Gaura Devi • Chandi Prasad Bhatt • Sundarlal Bahuguna
Women’s Participation
• Mass participation of female villagers and their children• Women were most directly affected by environmental
degradation and deforestation. • Key women leaders were Gaura Devi, Sudesha Devi,
Bachni Devi, Dev Suman, Mira Behn, Sarala Behn and Amrita Devi.
• Women formed human chains across roads to prevent contractors from reaching the forest area.
• Women have fought against the deforestation. They have prevented the contractors from felling the trees.
Children as Mediators
• Children act as mediators for Chipko Movement to take the message home and spread to their parents.
Gaura Devi• Head of the village Mahila Mangal Dal.
• Mobilized village women for the movement when company men marched to cut the trees.
• Gaura Devi stood on way and declared:
“The forest nurtures us like a mother; you will only be able to use your axes on it but you have to use them first on us.”
Chandi Prasad Bhatt• A leader within the Chipko movement.• Educate villagers among the Himalayan Mountains.• Bhatt’s teachings focus on the protection of the
Himalayan Mountains from deforestation. • Organized rallies to protect the forest from mass
destruction.
“Let them know we will not allow the felling of a single tree. When their men raise their axes, we will embrace the trees to protect them.”
- Chandi Prasad Bhatt
Sundarlal Bahuguna
• He has contributed globally through awareness raising measures concerning deforestation.
• He was one of the first people to stop the construction of the Tehri Dam.
• Bahuguna understood the need for protecting the environment by taking foot marches.
• He suggested that the villagers must replant what they cut.
Importance of Tehri Dam• Tehri Dam,a major hydroelectric project centered
near Tehri Town.
• Final installed capacity of 2000 MW
• Additional irrigation to 270,000 hectares
• Stabilization to existing irrigation on 600,000 hectares
• 270 million gallons of drinking water per day to Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
Why not Tehri Dam ???
• Tehri Dam- object of active protestation by environmental organizations and local people.
• Reasons for Protestation:
• The relocation of more than 100,000 people
.• It is located in the Central Himalayan Seismic Gap.
• This region was the site of a 6.8 magnitude earthquake.
• The dam-break would submerge numerous towns whose populations total near half a million.
• The intention of the Dams was to divert water flow to New Delhi.
• This will lead to reduction of water supply in mountain villagers.
• The villages get water supply of only 4 liters per family.
• Moreover the protestors claim that it will uproot trees and pose a flood threat.
Why Chipko Movement
• The forests of India are a critical resource for the livelihood of rural peoples throughout the country.
• These forests have been increasingly felled for commerce and industry.
• If the Himalayas are not saved all of India will be turned in to a desert.
• Fodder will not be available.• There will be Soil Erosion and land slides.
• Indian villagers have sought to protect their livelihoods through the Gandhian method.
• This resistance to the destruction of forests spread throughout India and became organised.
• Known as the Chipko Movement.
• Deforestation is a severe problem in northern India.
• Local people have come together to prevent commercial
timber harvesting.
• Subsistence agriculture provided women the necessary nutrients needed to feed their families.
• Uttarakhand has moved away from subsistence-oriented peasant economy to a dependent on outside remittances to live.
Slogan of Chipko Moment
• “ What do the forest bear? Soil ,water and pure air”
Embrace the tree and save them from being
felled; the properties of our hills, save them from being looted. And, “Ecology is permanent
economy.”
Another one said ….
• “Let us protect and plant the trees Go awaken the villages And drive away the axe man”
Success of the Chipko Movement
• Ban on cutting the trees for the 15 years in the forests of Uttar Pradesh in 1980.
• Later on the ban was imposed in Himachal Pardesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, Western Ghats and Vindhayas.
• More than 1,00,000 trees have been saved from excavation.
• It generated pressure for a natural resource policy which is more sensitive to people's needs and ecological requirements.
• Afterward environmental awareness increased dramatically in India.
• New methods of forest farming have been developed, both to conserve the forests and create employment.
• By 1981, over a million trees had been planted through their efforts.
• Villagers paid special attention in care of the trees and forest trees are being used judiciously.
• The forest department has opened some nursery in villages and supplies free seedlings to the forest.
• This method often slowed the work and brought attention the government’s actions.
• The Chipko is still working to protect the trees today through the same nonviolent methods.
• The chipko movement is teaching the people better land use ,nursery management and reforestation methods.
References
• http://www.iisd.org/50comm/commdb/desc/d07.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipko_movement• http://healthy-india.org/saveearth6.asp • http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/
Chipko_Movement