India signed and ratified 1997 Kyoto Protocol in August 2002. At the G-8 meeting in June 2005, India pointed out that per capita emission rates of developing countries are a tiny fraction of those in the developed world. The Indian government is already participating in global efforts through several programs. For example, India’s National Auto-fuel Policy mandates cleaner fuels for vehicles. The Energy Conservation Act passed in 2001, outlines initiatives to improve energy efficiency. The Electricity Act of 2003 encourages use of renewable energy.

Environmental Movements

Structure: Environmental movements are led by groups of environmentally conscious volunteers working in different parts of the world.

• Some of them work at an international level, but most work at a local level.

• Global Reach: The forest movements of the South, in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, continental Africa, and India face enormous pressures.
• Recipe for Resistance: Mineral industry’s extraction of earth, its use of chemicals, is polluting waterways and land, its clearance of native vegetation, and its displacement of communities, amongst other factors, continue to invite criticism and resistance in various parts of the globe.
• Damming the Flow: Another group of movements are those involved in struggles against mega-dams. In every country where a mega-dam is being built, one is likely to find an environmental movement opposing it.
• Case Studies: 
  • In 1982, protesters and environmental activists collaborated with the Australian Government to prevent the Franklin River from being dammed.
  • India has had some leading anti-dam, pro-river movements. Narmada Bachao Andolan is one of the best known of these movements. 

Wilderness of Forests

Spatial Human Distribution: Forest movements of the South differ from those of North. Forests in the south are still inhabited, while forests in north are more or less devoid of human habitat. 

• This explains to some extent the prevailing notion of wilderness in the North as a ‘wild place’ where people do not live. 
• Human-Nature Divide: In this perspective, humans are not seen as part of nature. In other words, ‘environment’ is perceived as ‘somewhere out there’, as something that should be protected from humans by creating parks and reserves.
• Wilderness-oriented perspectives have been predominant in Australia, Scandinavia, North America, and New Zealand. 
  • In these regions, there are still large tracts of relatively ‘underdeveloped wilderness’, unlike in most European countries. 
  • In the Philippines (south),  green organizations fight to protect eagles and other birds of prey from extinction. 
• Global Species: In India, a battle goes on to protect an alarmingly low number of Bengal tigers. 
  • In Africa, a long campaign has been waged against the ivory trade and the savage slaughter of elephants.
  • Some of the most famous wilderness struggles have been fought in the forests of Brazil and Indonesia. 
• Shift from Wilderness to Biodiversity: All of these campaigns focus on individual species as well as conservation of wilderness habitats, which support them. 
  • Many of the wilderness issues have been renamed biodiversity issues in recent times, as a concept of wilderness has proved difficult to sell in the South. 
  • Role of NGOs: Many of these campaigns have been initiated and funded by NGOs such as Worldwide Wildlife Fund (WWF), in association with local people. 

Resource Geopolitics

Resource geopolitics is all about who gets what, when, where, and how. Throughout the Cold War, industrialized countries of the North adopted several methods to ensure a steady flow of resources by deployment of military forces near exploitation sites and along sea lanes of communication, stockpiling of strategic resources, and efforts to prop up friendly governments in producing countries.

• Resources and Control: A particular concern was Western control of oil in Gulf and strategic minerals in Southern and Central Africa.
• Oil as a Source of Conflict: Global economy relied on oil for much of 20th century as a portable and indispensable fuel. 
  • The immense wealth associated with oil generates political struggles to control it, and history of petroleum is also a history of war and struggle.
• Water Scarcity: Water is another crucial resource that is relevant to global (lower riparian) state’s objections to pollution, excessive irrigation, or construction of dams by an upstream (upper riparian) state, which might decrease or degrade the quality of water available to downstream state.
  • States have used force to protect or seize freshwater resources. 
  • Ex: Violence between Israel, Syria, and Jordan in 1950s and 1960s over attempts by each side to divert water from Jordan and Yarmuk Rivers, and more recent threats between Turkey, Syria, and Iraq over construction of dams on Euphrates River.

Indigenous Peoples and Their Rights

Define: UN defines indigenous populations as comprising descendants of peoples who inhabited present territory of a country at a time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there from other parts of the world and overcame them.

• Unique Cultural Practices: Indigenous people today live more in conformity with their particular social, economic, and cultural customs and traditions than the institutions of the country of which they now form a part. Ex: Sacred Groves in India. (Refer to Figure 14.8)
• Indigenous Rights Movements: Like other social movements, Indigenous people speak of their struggles, their agenda, and their rights.
• Spatial Distribution: Indigenous people occupy areas in Central and South America, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia.
  • In India, the description ‘Indigenous people’ is usually applied to Scheduled Tribes who constitute nearly 80% of the population of a country.
  • World Council of Indigenous Peoples was formed in 1975. The Council became subsequently the first of 11 indigenous NGOs to receive consultative status in UN.

Conclusion

Various movements focused on the environment around the world, defending indigenous rights, geopolitics related to resources, and efforts to conserve biodiversity highlight the intricate relationship between human societies and natural ecosystems. Various efforts, ranging from local demonstrations against large dams to global treaties like the Kyoto Protocol, aim to balance economic progress with environmental conservation. The continued effort to safeguard biodiversity and indigenous rights from resource exploitation underscores the pressing requirement for united global efforts and policy consistency to attain a harmonious and sustainable future for everyone.

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