k I N LV V 3 L E I I E K )

V o l u me X V ( 1 ) A p r i l - S e p t e mb e r 1 9 8 4

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E r k a y ' L L W A L I T looks k as i f env ironment i s a n idea whose time has come. News papers g i v e prominent dis play t o environmental horror stories. E d i torials demand bet t er management of o u r nat ural resources. G o v e r n ment statements on t he need t o preserve t he env ironment ar e n o w commonplace. G o v e r n me n t p r o t o o a r e quit e numerous grammes and increasing in number day by day. , There a r e mas s iv e s c hemes f o r

The Role of Ecological Destruction in the Emerging Patterns of Poverty and People's Protests
giant land mass is n o w under p r o tected nat ional park s a n d wildlif e sanctuaries, a n d t here are demands to strengthen t heir prot ec t ion a n d increase their area. P l a n documents and part y manifestoes a r e equally careful t o me n t i o n t he import anc e of environment. But t h e r e i s a ma j o r problem wit h t his entire r a n g e o f activities and concerns: i t does not appear t o

FI FTH V I K RA M SA RA M A I M E M O R I A L

LECTURE

by

Anil Agit/twat
afforestation, f o r instance. I n t h e last f our y ears , s o me 1,000 c r o r e seedlings a r e s a i d t o hav e b e e n distributed o r plant ed. Th e r e are new laws f o r c o n t r o l o f a i r and water p o l l u t i o n a n d f o r t he c onservation o f f ores t s . I n d i a h a s received plaudit s a l l over the world for wh a t i t has done t o preserve tigers. Ne a r l y 3 per cent o f India's be based on a holistic understanding of the relat ions hip between environment and t he development process taking place i n t his c ount ry . T h e programmes a r e a d hoc, wi t h o u t any sharp priorit y and there is t oo much o f a polic eman' s at t it ude. They seem to be based on the belief that c onc ern f o r t he env ironment essentially me a n s . protecting a n d

The F i fth Vi k r am S M August 1984 under the auspices of the Indian Council of Social Science Research. "D .b Anil arb a i Attarwal is Director, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. M e m o r i a l L e c t u r e w a s d e l i v e r e d a t N e

ile S O U L l i f i l y

I L I L I VI 1 1 , 1 1 t .

I I I

L Pf l

L I,1

,-inselves. T h e r e i s modify t he dev elopin a ma n n e r t h a t in great er h a r mo n y [ t he people and wit h maintain ec ol ogi c al increasing t he proir w a t e r a n d S. opulent i s n o t j u s t d t igers , t hreat ened ystems. I t is literally which we all subsist, Crail'e agricultural levelopment depends. an t ak e place at t he vironment o n l y up t o nd t h a t point i t wi l l dish person wh o was the v ery branc h o n Mting. Dev elopment :ern f or the env ironbe dev elopment f o r In the long term, it Intl-development and only at t he c o s t o f

the l a s t y e a r , i n t h e process o f producing a citizens' report on t he State o f I ndia's Env ironment , w e have had t he f ort une and opport u-

nity to interact wit h these groups and learn fro m them their growing
understanding between env ironment and dev elopment a n d i t i s t h i s

of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The Kerala Sastra Sabitya Parishad h a s had a lo n g acrimonious battle over the pollution of the Chaliyar Rive r in Kerala by a rayon mill. T h e India Development Serv ic e f inds it s elf embroiled

who should use it and benefit from it. I t is this growing understanding of t h e relationship between t h e people and their environment, born out o f a concern fo r a more equitable a n d sustainable us e o f t h e environment, t h a t i s pr obabl y the

understanding that I would like to

share wit h y ou this evening. There are hundreds o f field-level groups in t he country today taking a keen interest in environmental issues and t heir experiences a n d interests are extremely diverse: wh i l e s ome are interested i n preventing defore-

in another case of river pollution by a rayon mill in Karnataka. Me a n while, t h e Shandol G r o u p h a s worked fo r lo n g against the pollution of a river in the Shandol district by a paper mill. Th e re is, of course, the M i t t i Bachao A b h iya n t o organize th e farmers against t h e water-logging ca u se d b y f a u lt y irrigation systems. While all these are relatively well known groups and have attracted varying degrees o f media attention, there are many, many others in the country who are doing excellent work in mobilizing people, both to prevent further ecological destruction, often in the face o f determined government policies, and to bring about ecological regeneration. O n e thing, however, that binds most o f these groups is th e ir concern t o put the environment a t the service and the control o f the people, the people being defined a s t h e lo ca l co mmunities wh o l i v e w i t h i n t h a t environment. Environmental protection per se is of least concern to most o f these groups, including th e well known Chipko Movement, f o r example. Their main concern is about the use

most fascinating development f o r a reporter of events like me,

E NV IRONM E NTA L DE S TRUCTION B Y TIIE R I C H

station, there are others which are

only i n t e r e s t e d i n af f ores t at ion. There a r e ma n y wh i c h w a n t t o prevent t h e c ons t ruc t ion o f o n e dam o r anot her. Th e r e are others who want to prevent water pollution. There is t he famous Chipk o Mov e-

ment in the U.P. Himalayas, probably

the oldest and mos t f amous o f all

the groups, w h i c h h a s played a

major role i n bringing t he issue of deforestation t o t he f ore o f public

an sufferings, inereaind oppression. W e ly approac hing t h a t

opinion. A n d n o w there i s it s
counterpart in the south, the Apik k o Movement in t he Western Ghats o f Karnataka. Da r n s l i k e t h e S i l e n t Valley a n d B e d t h i h a v e already been s t opped bec aus e o f s t rong people's prot es t s a n d n o w t h e well-known s o c i a l w o r k e r B a b a

e hundreds o f volunork ing a t t he mic roe c ount ry , t here has bly rapid g r o wt h o f ronmental problems . Fact, h a s b e e n t h i s

To understand the nature o f the environmental problems i n India, it may be useful t o compare a n d contrast certain environmental trends and concerns in India with those in the West, especially since the environmental concern f irst began in the Western world and since many groups in India, including political parties, have fo r long dismissed the environmental concern a s a petty Western concern. Th e re has always been this argument that t o o much concern f o r th e environment can only retard economic and industrial development. T h e U N Conference on the Human Environment h e ld in Stockholm in 1972 was the landmark conference that created worldwide consciousness about the e n vironment, N o U N conference has ever been able t o collect so many luminaries at one place. Many delegations from developing countries attending that conference had argued that the solution to environmental problems lay in economic

;ometimes w e e ve n describe i t as the

Arnie, wh o has never before been involved i n a n y campaign' all his life, is leading a ma jo r campaign

-azilian delegat ion en repres ent ing a an economic boom.

blems t hat the development process is meant t o s olv e. O n t he ot her, environmental destruction has grown

C IIVIAL AIJ Il i c i l ta k p i t , I P M ,

A L P

L IA

V V ,.1 L

Mister, NIrs. I ndira further apace. B u t what is int eres ; a major impress- ting is that while many environmental nee, is still remem- problems, especially those related t o air and wat er pollut ion, have tended . to become less severe in many part s tgest pollut er'. I n of the industrialized world, because ne q f rom t he Third ists a n d right is t s , of the introduction of highly capitalu intensive p o l l u t i o n c ont rol t ec hnoo cing suspicion t hat logies, these problems have continued ttries may be up t o e West may simply be to g r o w and become critical in many ; parts o f the dev eloping world. I n d s Aing Third World to other words , wh i l e t h e ec onomic o t )gical modernization development process in the world is n a ;velopment. I t was only wors ening o u r env ironment al mhav ing g o t t heir problems, it is tending to solve them t e affluent 1 i restyles, in the West.. Mic hael Heseltine, then n now s imply asking Minister o f Env ironment i n t h e m anti-environment government of Mrs. t cc: e clean a i r , c lean tracts o f nature f or Margaret That c her, ev en we n t s o a n l ecreation, ma n y o f far i n a U N meeting in 1982 as t o t c : o be preserved i n say that all environmental problems ;t in the Wes t hav e been s olv ed a n d o Is and savannas o f n South America. they now remain in i n the Third World. c e at years later when Heseltine indeed h a d a point . r red a meet ing t o n St oc k holm c o n le London, f o r instance, has not seen for years any of those smogs it saw non-governmentill Third Wo r l d were regularly i n t h e 1940s a n d 1950s, te i n favour o f the which l e d t o thousands o f deaths :Tess a s it is. T h e day faces b o t h a n and a development hese crises seem t o d interacting to rei On the one hand, 2 inequality, poverty e m t o b e a n y e annually, and the Thames n o w even boasts o f s a l mo n . B u t Mi c h a e l Heseltine, lik e all representatives o f vested interests, w a s o n l y h i d i n g something o f deep significance: t he role o f t h e We s t e r n W o r l d i n destroying t he Third World environment.

are t hos e aris ing o u t of waste disposal-problems o f a i r a n d wa t e r pollut ion and of disposal o f highly toxic, indus t rial and nuclear wastes. Though problems of ac id rain have definitely increased a n d there does not yet seem t o b e a n y s olut ion t o the problem of toxic wastes, it is true that some cities and riv ers do look cleaner. In t he Third World, however, as its o wn indus t rializ at ion proceeds, these wat er disposal problems a r e getting wo r s e day by day but they are s t ill n o t t h e m a j o r o r o n l y environmental problems. In the Third World, t h e m a j o r env ironment al problems are c learly t hos e w h i c h arise out of the misuse of the natural resource baseout o f t he misuse o f soils, f ores t s a n d wa t e r resources. These problems a r e c reat ed t o a great extent because o f the pressure to produce raw materials f or modern industry. The Third World's environment not only provides raw materials f or its own industries but also f or the industries of the West. For instance, t h e Japanese and Western t imber industries have been the biggest source o f forest destruction i n Southeast A s i a . H a v i n g turned countries like Thailand f rom net ex port ers o f w o o d i n t o n e t import ers o f wood, Japanese c o mpanies are n o w t urning t o t he last great wooded f ront ier o f the world: the Amazon basin of South America.

the lands o f the Th i r d World. N o statistics o n this a r e available, but if someone d i d c ollec t t hem, I a m sure we wi l l f i n d t h a t des pit e Hie worldwide process of decolonization, there is today many times more land being used i n t he developing wo r l d to Meet the food needs of the western countries t han -in the I 940s, before the process o f decolonization began. More t han a quarter of a l l Cent ral American forests have been destroyed since 1960 f or cattle ranching; 85 to 95 per cent of the beef produced as a result h a s g o n e t o t h e US wh i l e domestic c ons umpt ion o f beef i n Central Americ a h a s f allen dramatically. I n the US this beef has been mainly used t o make tinned and pet food and c heap hamburgers because the Cent ral Americ an beef i s h a l f
-

the price o f the grass-fed beef produced i n the US . The pric e o f t he Central Americ an b e e f does n o t represent its correct ecological cost. Cattle ranching has proved t o he the worst f orm of land use for the fragile soils on whic h these tropical mo i s t forests existed. W i t h i n 5 t o 7 years their produc t iv it y dropped dramat ically and cattle ranchers have had t o move on. The Sahelian drought of 1968-74 which hit t h e world headlines a n d claimed t he liv es o f approximately 1,00,000 nomadic people was caused by nothing less than the French colonial polic y t o driv e these countries into peanut f a r mi n g t o s ec ure its

)olicies, t he Frenc h Lies f orc ed the West to grow groundnuts [ subsistence c rops . ation rapidly deple)on spread t o tradiad forest zones and land previously used setting t h e delicate the farmers and the The expansion of .itcouraged by art ilies but when the US began t o h i t t h e t and vegetable o i l fall, t h e n e wl y inAf ric an c ount ries ve b u t t o inc reas e rea to keep up t heir e reserves. A s t h i s y leaps and bounds ;me o f gov ernment minds we r e s l owl y rid further nort h into vhich t hey were not traditional relat ionttled farmers having sturbed. W h e n t h e irought set i n a n d nimals a n d human lie, t he nomads and :ing w a s b l a me d . the Frenc h o r the Lich work ed hand in 'tench. country, t h e f i r s t the forests o f the wit h t he establishtations. The current India's coasts, as on

Asian c ount ries , i s t a k i n g plac e because o f t he heavy demand f o r prawns i n Wes t ern a n d Japanese markets. This over-fishing is leading to c ons iderable t ens ions b e t we e n t radit ional f is herf olk a n d t r a wl e r owners, a n d v i o l e n t e n c o u n t e r s between t he two are regularly reported. Recently, I ndones ia completely banned t h e operat ion o f t rawlers f rom i t s c o a s t a l wa t e r s , a n d several c ount ries i n c l u d i n g I n d i a have s e t up regulations t o prevent trawler operators f rom fishing in t he first f ew k ilomet res f r o m the coast. This zone is reserved f or the t radit ional fisherfolk, But polic ing trawlers over such a n extensive c oas t line is an_ expensive propos it ion and regulations a r e , t h e r e f o r e , s e l d o m observed o r enf orc ed. T h e export o f f rogs ' l e g s t o c a t e r t o t h e palates o f Western c ons umers and its .impact on t h e agric ult ural pes t populations i n affected areas is now a well k nown story. The p a t t e r n o f env ironment al exploitation that we see on the global scale s imply reproduces itself on the national scale. E x a c t l y w h a t t h e Western industry does t o t he Th i r d World environment, the Indian industry does to the I ndian env ironment . Nearly half the industrial out put i n I ndia i s accounted f or b y industries whic h can be c alled biomass-based industries: t h a t i s , indus t ries l i k e cotton t ex t iles , ray on, paper, p l y wood, rubber, soap, sugar, tobacco, jute, chocolate, food processing and

I nCI LI St rI CS e x e r t s a l l C H M

sure on the country's cultivated and forest lands. T h e y need crop lands,

lion. T h e field experience of voluntary groups shows clearly that eradithey need f ores t s , a n d t h e y need cation o f poverty in a country lik e India is simply not possible wit hout energy and irrigat ion. the r at i onal maaagement o f o u r The I ndian p a p e r indus t ry has environment a n d t h a t c onv ers ely ruthlessly destroyed t h e forests o f environmental destruction wi l l only India. Paper companies in Karnataka, intensify pov ert y . T h e reas on i s having des t roy ed a l l t h e bamboo simple t h o u g h seldom recognized. forests, are now get t ing t h e i r r a w The vast majorit y of the rural housematerials f rom the last major forested holds meet their daily household needs frontier of India: the Northeast. The through biomas s o r biomass-related government's own public sector paper products, which are mostly collected companies a r e c o mi n g u p i n t he freely f rom t h e immediate env ironNorth-east itself. The Andhra Pradesh ment. I n s hort , t h e y l i v e wi t h i n government has meanwhile s et it s nothing ot her than a biomass-based sights on the forests o f Andamans subsistence ec onomy . F o o d , f u e l and Nic obar Islands for a paper mill (that i s , f irewood, c owdung, c r o p that it wants t o b u i l d in Kak inada. wastes), rockier, Fert iliz er (t hat i s , The shortage o f r a w mat erials f o r organic manure, Fores t lit t er, l e a f wood pulp has already f orc ed t h e mulch), building mat erials (t hat is , government t o liberaliz e import o f poles, thatch), herbs and clothing arc pulp for the country's paper industry, all biomass products. Wat er is a n o thus, adding t o t he pressure on t h e ther c r u c i a l produc t Fo r s urv iv al. forests of other Th i r d Wo r l d c ounWater is n o t biomass itself, but it s tries. availability is closely relat ed t o the level o f biomas s av ailable i n the The first lesson is, therefore, clear: surrounding environment. Onc e t he the main s ourc e o f env ironment al forest disappears, the local pond silts destruction i n t h e wo r l d i s the deup, the village well dries up, and the mand f o r nat ural resources generated by t he c ons umpt ion o f t he rich perennial stream gets reduc ed t o a seasonal one. Th e water balance gets (whether they are rich nations or rich totally upset wit h t he destruction of individuals a n d g r o u p s w i t h i n vegetation: in a mons oonal c limat e nations) and because o f their g a r like ours with highly uneven rainf all gantuan appet it e, i t is t heir wastes mainly t hat c ont ribut e to the global over the y ear, i t means great ly increased runof f and floods during the pollut ion load. peak wa t e r s eas on a n d g r e a t l y 'DI E P OOR A N D TI I E I R E NV IRONM E NT increased drought and wat er scarcity in the lean dry season, The second les s on, howev er, i s

SS J Or m e e t i n g c ru c i a l

s c an be appreciated the energy situation. ove t o point out that vorld's tenth larges t t, o r s omet hing lik e then o v e r 5 0 p e r oonsumption in India damental activity f or iking. I n developed rig consumes less than total nat ional f uel

e important for India over 90 per cent o f in I ndia is biomass: , cowdung and c rop than households are ont o n f irewood as energy planners officials alik e, had oently o f the dimen-_ 'rat-urban f uelwood urban purc has e o f 1over Rs. 500 crores he l a s t t e n y ears , the only state left dia with any _reasonforest c ov er, h a s ior supplier of fueldes o f n o r t h a n d tit as t he slate gets eforested every year, have b e e n r i s i n g r. M a d h y a Pradesh e I ndia's f irs t state le world's f irs t state export o f firewood. which uses about irth o f f irewood o n

firewootl, and an increasingly higher proport ion f r o m a s f a r a wa y a s Assam, t he same place f rom wh i c h paper mills a r e n o w get t ing t h e i r bamboo. Fi r e wo o d prices in De l h i are today higher t h a n e v e r before and ac c ording t o FA O f igures a r e amongst t he highes t i n t h e world. This firewood is used by the poorest of the poor in Delhi, by construction Workers and others, a n d when t he effective heat provided by firewood is compared t o kerosene, because of the low efficiency chulhas i n whic h f irewood is used, firewood becomes f our to f i v e t imes mo r e expensive t han kerosene. L P G , incidentally, a fuel used b y t he ric hes t sections o f the society a n d s upplied ent irely b y government sources, is the most convenient and cheapest f uel available, Which s t at e w i l l b e t h e nex t t o ban f i r e wo o d ex port s i s any one's guess? Wh a t happens when A s s a m also says no? Biomass resources not only meet crucial household needs b u t t h e y also provide a range of raw materials f or traditional occupations and crafts and are, hence, a ma j o r source o f employment: f irewood and c owdung are import ant s ourc es Lof f uel f o r potters; bulloc k c art s and c at amarans are made f rom wood; bamboo is a v i t a l r a w mat erial f or basket weavers, a n d s o o n . Tr a d i t i o n a l crafts a r e not jus t being threatened by the introduction o f mo d e r n products but also by the acute shortage of biomass-based r a w materials, A

changing market o f bulloc k c art s reports that people i n Ungra v illage in Karnat ak a c a n n o w n o l onger afford t o buy new bulloc k carts with the traditional wooden wheel because wood has become extremely expensive. A rec ent r e p o r t f r o m t h e Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre f rom Madras reports that t radit ional fisherfolk n o w f ind i t v ery dif f ic ult to make new catamarans because the special wood they us e i s ex t remely scarce and expensive. Several reports f rom a l l over the countryfrom M a d h y a P r a d e s h , Maharashtra a n d T a m i l N a d u portray t h e ex t reme dif f ic ult y o f hundreds o f t hous ands o f bas k et weavers in eking out a bare existence because of the acute shortage of bamboo. I n the Bhandara and Chandrapur districts o f Maharashtra, nearly 70,000 mat and basket weavers hav e been prot es t ing agains t t he dis c riminat ory prices and s mall quot a of bamboos given t o t hem whereas big paper mi l l s hav e been leas ed o u t large bamboo forests. I n Karnat ak a, Ma d h a v G a d g i l undert ook a study of the use o f the state's bamboo forests by paper mills, after a series o f protests by basket weavers. G a d g i l found that whereas bamboo was available t o paper mills at Rs. 15 a tonne it was available t o basket weav ers a n d o t h e r a ma l l bamboo users in t he market a t Rs. 1,200 per tonne. S o c i a l activists in

now been depriv ed o f t heir earlier sources of hhabbar grass. T h e U.P. Forest De v e l o p me n t Co r p o r a t i o n discriminates i n f a v o u r o f p a p e r mills and t h i s p o l i c y h a s t urned thousands of these baan workers int o destitutes, landles s labourers a n d urban migrants. W o o d is now difficult t o get f or mak ing even agric ultural implement s lik e t h e plough, especially wood that has been t raditionally used f o r these implement s . Few people k n o w t hat one o f the things that led t o the Chipk o movement wa s t h e anger o f t he l o c a l people ov er the Forest Department's refusal to provide as h wood, wo o d that has been t radit ionally used f o r making ploughs, whereas t he Forest Department h a p p i l y alloc at ed t h e same wo o d t o sports goods IIMMIf a c t u re rs .

Even b i o ma s s res ourc es l i k e thatch have become so difficult t hat maintenance and repair cycles of mud and thatch huts have increased considerably. A government report f r o m Bastar, of all places, as i t is s t ill one of the heav ily forested districts i n the country, point s out t o a village where no n e w hut has been b u i l t over the last two decades because the entire area around t h e v illage has been deforested. Tr a d i t i o n a l mu d roofs have almost disappeared f rom many parts o f the c ount ry because of t h e large quant it ies o f t i mber needed b y t hem. T h e y a r e being replaced b y t iled roof s , b u t bak ing

bl Offl aSS re s o u rc e s , IRIS V e e n v v i u k -t y

! wilier v it al resource !ute shortage. W i t h ecut o f t h e world' s M s upport s 1 5 p e r le, 52 per cent o f its 15 p e r c ent o f it s !se animals p l a y an rtant role in t he juteof agric ult ure a n d ,dry t h a t I ndian f arShortage o f fodder, public lands, means, in t he t ribal areas o f , t hat p o o r landless marginal farmers do :Jh f rom t he milk coanimal improv ement region. .tiation where millions heavily dependent o n s f or t heir daily existction of the env ironpolicy t h a t reduc es A ss resources lik e the bill will have an eximpact o n t he daily )ple.
tNIA TION OF N A TU R E

talked about . T h e p o o r often g e t blamed f o r t he des t ruc t ion o f the environment. B u t the second set o f pressures, generated b y moderniz ation, indus t rializ at ion a n d t h e general penet rat ion o f t h e c as h economy, are s eldom t alk ed a b o u t even in polic y mak ing circles. Modernization affects n a t u r e i n t wo ways. Fi r s t l y , i t i s ex t remely destructive o f t h e environment i n its search f o r c heap biomass-based raw materials and i n it s search f o r cheap opport unit ies f o r was t e dis posal. Un l e s s there are strong laws winch a r e equally s t rongly i mp l e mented, there i s n o attempt ma d e to int ernaliz e env ironment al costs, both public and private industrialists prefer t o p a s s t h e m o n t o t h e society. S t a t e governments are also happy t o give away large tracks o f forests f o r a pit t anc e a n d t h r o w water pollut ion c ont rol laws t o t he winds t o get a f ew more factories. Other t han the destruction o f the environment, moderniz at ion affects nature i n yet another way: this is by steadily transforming the very character of nature. I n physical terms, the tendency is to reduce the diversity in nature and transform it into a nature that is full of high-yielding monoc ultures_ T h e ecological r o l e o f t he original nat ure is also us ually dis regarded in this transformation. I n social t erms , t he t rans f ormat ion is generally away f rom a nature that has

hold and c ommunit y needs a n d towards a nat ure t hat i s geared t o meet urban a n d indus t rial needs, a nature that is essentially cash generating. Ex c ellent ex amples o f s uc h transformations are the pine forests in place o f the old oak forests in the Himalayas, t h e teak forests in place of the sal forests in the Chottanagpur Plateau, euc aly pt us plant at ions i n place of natural forests i n t he Western Ghats and now the proposals t o grow oil palms in place of the tropical forests in the Great Nic obar Islands. Both these phenomenathe destruct ion o f t he original nature and t he creation of a new, c ommerc ially oriented naturehave been taking place simultaneously in the Indian environment and o n a massive scale. The effect of this massive environmental c hange has been disastrous f or t he people, especially when w e realize t h a t in a c ount ry like I ndia, where o n o n e h a n d w e hav e a n extremely high level o f poverty and on the ot her a reasonably high level of population density, there is hardly any ecological space left in t he phy sical environment whic h is not occupied by one human group or another f or it s sustenance. N o w , i f in t he name o f economic development, any human activity results in the destruction o f an ecological space o r in it s transformation w h i c h benefits t h e more powerf ul groups i n s oc iet y , then inev it ably t h o s e w h o we r e earlier dependent on that space wi l l suffer_ De v e l o p me n t i n t his c as e

sion and wi l l inevitably rais e questions o f social injustice and conflict. The experience o f mierolevel groups shows clearly again that it is rare to find a case i n wh i c h environmental destruction does n o t g o h a n d i n hand wi t h s oc ial injus t ic e, a l mo s t like t wo sides of the same coin. Let us look at a few cases o f how the destruction of nature has affected the liv es o f people. I n o n e v ery dramatic a r e a wh e r e gov ernment policies have consistently increased conflicts is forests. T h e entire t ribal population, a n d millions o f ot her forest dwelling people depend on the forests f or their very existence. Des truction o f f ores t s h a s m e a n t social, c ult ural and ec onomic destruction o f t h e t r i b a l populat ions in part ic ular. Begi nni ng w i t h t h e British a n d c ont inuing wi l l s f r e e India, t he gov ernment has decided to c ont rol t he forest resource itself, leaving lit t le o r no c ont rol i n t h e hands o f t h e forest dwellers. T h e government c o n t r o l o v e r f o r e s t s has def init ely me a n t a reallocation of forest resources away f r o m t he needs o f local communities and int o the hands o f urban and indus t rial India_ T h e end result i s b o t h increased social conflict and increased destruction of the ecological resource itself. Yet anot her ma j o r c omponent of the c ount ry ' s phy s ic al env ironment is grazing lands. T h e destruction o f the grazing lands has meant

s near-t ot al relianc e mrces f or bare s urv iI ndia h a s s t eadily t ajor t rans f ormat ion, major pressures opecountry's nat ural reThe f irs t , generated growth and t hus b y

the nomadic groups ty. F e w people k now as nearly 2 0 0 castes pastoral n o ma d i s m, dded u p number up to al que i n t h e wo r l d i n : I div ers it y o f animals n pastoral nomadis m. th terders o f c amels i n d i in Gujarat, of donkeys I a ra, o f yaks in Ladakh, tdhra Pradesh and even ' s anthem I ndia. Sheep, ttle p a r e o f c ours e t he o used f o r nomadism, p u o f factors, inc luding r l and development proa have promot ed e x ch riculture on t o marginal t i steadily l e d t o a n ograzing l a n d s . T h e n is a l i n e example nal . programme that has cut aitensive graz ing lands tral lands. N o e f f o r t the gov ernment t o he nomads wh o u s e d ; lands earlier w o u l d he c anal on a priorit y Rost every village, t h e .ds, t radit ionally us ed nds, have been encroaby p o we r f u l int eres t privatized. N o m a d i c been inc reas ingly i m iver t he l a s t 30 years increasing n u mb e r i s to give up t h e i r t radiaations, t o b e c o me

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Riverine fisherfolk constitute another group that has suffered immensely wit h environmental destruction. Riverine fisheries are being seriously affected wi t h increasing water pollution. L a r g e s c a l e f i s h k i l l s a r e regularly report ed. I n t h e 158 k m stretch o f the Hooghly , t he average yield of fish is jus t about a sixth in the pollut ed zones as compared t o the unpolluted zones. Growing water pollut ion is, thus, affecting thousands of riverine fisherfolk i n the c ount ry but lit t le data i s available o n t h e i r plight. Ri v e r s have n o w become a resource f o r u r b a n a n d indus t rial I ndia t o b e us ed as cheap dumpyards f o r t heir wastes and al l t h i s is sanctioned i n the name o f economic development. The new, commercial nature that is being created is also o f lit t le help to village communities and their daily needs. T h e r e are people's protests in many parts of the country against the conversion o f o a k forests i n t o pine forests a n d of sal forests into teak forests. Ne i t h e r pine n o r teak is of any interest t o local c ommunities. I n the Singhbhuin area o f Bihar there is even a movement t o destroy the new teak forests. E q u a l l y , there is a s t rong prot es t i n K a r n a t a k a against t he planting of eucalyptus on farmers' fields. The plant ing o f eucalyptus o n fanners' fields and even on so-called barren fields is an excellent example

modernization. W h a t happens t o the poor people when eucalyptus i s planted on a farmers' field? We have a concrete example f rom a village is

The of f ic ially p r o d u c e d f i r e wo o d does n o t account f o r even one-fifth of t he t ot al es t imat ed demand o f some 130 million tonnes o f firewood Punjab, where a r i c h f armer wit h a year. When this was first discovered in the early 1970, it was immediat ely over 100 hectares o f land a n d a concluded t h a t t h e r u r a l p e o p l e former Governor, has stopped growmust b e s t ealing wo o d f r o m t h e ing c o t t o n a n d h a s s wit c hed t o forests on an enormous scale. Later, eucalyptus. A s l o n g a s h e grew however, i t w a s f o u n d t hat o v e r cotton, e n o r mo u s q u a n t i t i e s o f three-quarters of the fuel used in the cotton sticks would be available f o r rural areas i s i n t he f o r m o f twigs the landless labourers in t he village and l i t t l e branches a n d there need to use as fuel. Because of the shortage o f firewood, c r o p wastes f rom not be any felling o f trees to get this wood. B u t ev en t oday we d o not the landlord' s fields a r e the ma j o r and almost t h e only source of' f uel know wh a t vegetation i s ac t ually f or these poor landless villagers. No w providing t his massive quant it y o f wit h eucalyptus growing, their ma i n twigs and branches. M y guess is that source of f uel has dried up, put t ing weeds are n o w playing an extremely them in a precarious position. This is important role in the vital supply o f a case where afforestation has actually cooking fuel f or the poor. created a fuel famine f or the neediest A weed is defined as a plant which community. What happens wh e n eucalyptus is grown on a barren piece o f land'? Usually no land i s barren unless o f course it is highly eroded i n which case e v e n euc aly pt us c a n n o t b e grown on it. Generally barren 'lands have large quantities of weeds growing o n them. W i t h the destruction of o u r original vegetation, a f e w aggressive we e d s l i k e L a n t a n a , Parthenium a n d i p o m o e a h a v e literally s t art ed t a k i n g o v e r t h e country. N o n e o f these weeds i s palatable to animals and t hey therefore survive the pressure o f grazing. I f we look at t he f irewood s t allhas no ec onomic v alue but i n the socio-econotnic r e a l by o f I nd in, Lantana, Part hen i urn and I p o mo ea are weeds only f o r revenue earning Forest Depart ment s o f the gov ernment. Fo r p o o r hous eholds , w h o have no lands o f their o wn , weeds growing on public lands are ex t remely useful, because o f the very fact that they a r e n o t wa n t e d by t h e modern s ec t or o f t h e e c o n o my . Once they acquire an economic value, they will go out of their hands lik e bamboo, whic h was f o r long described as a weed b y foresters. Thus when a pat c h o f barren land i s p l a n t e d w i t h euc aly pt us ,

, crisis intensifies. No t foresters a l l o v e r t he )lain t h a t women even eucalyptus leaves f rom intations f or use as fuel, ing any chance o f the ng d o wn i n t o h u mu s the soil. But what else energy-starved w o m e n

Ft,a1 us ,,m 1A L,

commercialized, t h e access o f the poor t o t hos e biomass sources gets automatically reduc ed because o f limit ed purc has ing p o we r s . T h e trend t owards c ommerc ializ at ion o f firewood h a s been so r a p i d i n t he last 15 years t hat i t is n o w rare t o find p o o r households us ing m u c h firewood, especially in t he s hape o f logs. F i r e w o o d is no longer a fuel of t he poor b u t o f t he relat iv ely rich. T h e p o o r n o w s u b s i s t o n qualitatively i n f e r i o r s o u r c e s o f biomass f uels : c r o p wastes, weeds, twigs, cowdung and whatever organic kachra that they can find. I n fact, i f one goes t o a village, one will see that even firewood, c rop wastes and cowdung are fuels used according to the f amily 's ec onomic statuscrop wastes us ually b e i n g ' at t he lowes t of the order. Unfortunately, s ev eral scientific agencies, t hink ing t hat ' c rop wastes' are ac t ually was t es , have begun t o undertake research o n c ommerc ial utilization o f crop wastes. Te c h n o logies like fuel briquetting plants and small scale p a p e r mi l l s bas Nl o n crop residues are being heavily promoted b y t h e gov ernment . T h i s raises prices o f fuel and f odder and directly hit s p o o r landless peasants, who now have t o rely heavily on the mercy o f landed f armers t o a l l o w them t o t a k e t hes e was t es away , which they Will d o only as long as they are non- commercial entities for them.

insisting t h a t c rop wastes be taken by their labourers i n exchange f o r wages. I n o n e dis t ric t of Haryana we f o u n d t h a t a c ommon prac t ic e now is t o let a woman pic k an acre of cotton in exchange f or the cotton sticks f r o m t hat acre. T h e r e is no additional pay ment . T h e c o mmercialization o f biomas s a n d i t s drain t owards t hos e w h o have the power t o purc has e wi l l inev it ably harm t he poor and erode t he nonmonetized, biomas s -bas ed, s ubs is tence economy.
E NV IRONM E NT A N D W OM E N

grades, a n d t h i s becomes increasingly d i f f i c u l t t o o b t a i n , wo me n have t o s pend a n ex t raordinary amount of time f or foraging for fuel, fodder a n d wa t e r i n a d d i t i o n t o household wo r k , agric ult ural wo r k and c aring f o r animals . Th e r e i s almost no data which shows how the time spent b y women on t heir daily household ac t i v i t i es i s inc reas ing and h o w t his increase differs across different eco-climatic zones of India, But t h e av ailable d a t a o n t h e existing wo r k burden i s downright shocking. I n many part s o f India, women work for 14 to 16 hours everyday and it does not matter whether they are young, old o r pregnant and whether it is a Sunday o r any ot her holiday. D a y a f t e r weary clay t he routine repeats itself and year af t er weary year fuel and f odder collection i Inc p e r i o d s increase. I n m a n y pacts t he wo me n may have literally reached their 'c arry ing capacities'. The worst situation is in t he arid and semi-arid parts of the country and in the hill and mountain villages. I n all these areas trees and forests have been steadily destroyed. O n account of a n u mb e r o f factorssoil a n d climatic conditions, small size of land holdings, lack o f irrigation, etc.--the Green Rev olut ion has n o t reac hed these areas whereas in Punjab and Haryana, t hough trees are f e w, t h e Green Rev olut ion h a s brought a n enormous increase in biomass f r o m crop lands. A s a result, there is now

t we see in I ndia today conflict over the use o f :rces and, in particular, between the two sectors ry's economy: t he cash he modern sector on the ad t he non-monet iz ed, cl s ubs is t enc e e c o raditional sector on the

The des t ruc t ion o f the env ironment c learly poses the biggest threat to marginal cultures and occupations like t h a t o f t ribals , n o ma d s a n d lisherfolk wh i c h h a v e always been heavily dependent on t heir immediate CIWir011111CM f o r t heir survival. But t he ma x i mu m i mp a c t o f the destruction o f biomass sources is on women. W o m e n in all rural cultures are affected, especially women f r o m poor landless, marginal a n d s ma l l farming f a mi l i e s . S e e n f r o m t h e point o f view o f these wo me n , i t can even be argued that all development is ignorant o f women's needs, at bes t , a n d ant i-women, a t t h e worst, lit erally designed t o increase their work burden. Given t h e c ul t ur al l y accepted division o f labour wit hin the family, the collection of household needs like

ming stock of biomass ie demand f o r biomass economy goes u p and s to exceed supply, and exploit t h e r e ma i n i n g Icreases e n o r mo u s l y ; :s rise, a n d destructive derate because of sheer, Illegal t i mb e r felling major ac t iv it y i n t h e rtaken w i t h t h e f u l l litical interests. Stealing trucks of t imber is t he siest wa y t o bec ome than a Chief Minis t er to resign because o f lIvolvement i n t imber

as 5 t o 6 hours every iseholds even 10 hours collecting f u e l a n d contrary, i n a state re eco-climatic condiich green cover, the in wo me n i s mu c h lv t he leas t i n t h e the mi n i ma l l a n d ch landless f a mi l i e s tributed 1110 o f a n access t o a f e w [ices, whic h helps t o lialf t he fuel require-

f rom agric ult ural labour households in t h e v illage wh o h a d undergone tubectomy c omplained about pos t operative pains. A l l of them wanted to take rest but none o f them could. Collecting f odder alone t o o k three hours. T h e r e was hardly any source of f reely av ailable f o d d e r i n t h e village. Mo s t women had t o b r i n g grass and other weeds f rom bet ween wheat plant s i n t h e f ields . M a n y farmers would n o t a l l o w t his a n d landless women had t o go. f rom one field t o anot her. Fi r e wo o d me a n t still more work and another journey. The bending and stretching increased the pain, Th e women wanted to pass on t heir work t o ot hers , especially their c hildren. They t hen r a n i n t o conflicts wit h t h e i r hus bands and their c hildren wh o wanted t o p l a y rather Ulan work . One woman kicked and punc hed h e r daughter s o hard ror not work ing wi t h her t hat she died. S u c h viciousness 'nay be rare but increased f a mi l y tensions a r e c ommon place. The p e n e t r a t i o n o f t h e c as h economy is affecting the relationship between the m e n and wo me n in a peculiar way and i s c reat ing a real dichotomy in their respective relationships wit h nature. Me n have become more involved with the cash economy than women. W o m e n c ont inue t o deal wi t h non-monet iz ed, biomas s based subsistence ec onomy o f t he household. E v e n wi t h i n t he s ame household, we can find cases o f men

cash even t h o u g h i t would c reat e greater hardships f or the women i n collecting d a i l y f u e l a n d f o d d e r needs. The Chipk o Mov ement has given us n u me r o u s ex amples o f t h i s dichotomy in male-f emale interests, and the role of the women in preventing def ores t at ion has been p a r a . mOunt i n t he mov ement . Even t he Chipk o experience wit h afforestation confirms t h i s d i c h o t o my bet ween men a n d women a n d stresses t h e role o f women in ecological regeneration. E v e n t hough many c ruc ial household needs c o u l d be me t b y rehabilitating t h e loc al v illage ecosystemby plant ing f uel and f odder trees, f or ins t anc et he men do not show any interest in doing so. I t is Women w h o a r e d o i n g a l l t h e afforestation wo r k organized by the Chipk o Movement. The new culture c reat ed b y the penetration of the cash economy has, slowly but steadily, ps y c hologic ally alienated the men f rom t heir ecosystem. E mp l o y me n t f or them means work wh i c h can bring cash in t heir hands. T h i s employ ment c a n b e found mainly i n the c it y and hence, mass ma l e migrat ion. E v e n wh e n the men are i n a v illage a j o b i s still something that must earn cash. There are f ew o f those caste and class barriers i n t h e Hi ma l a y a n villages whic h prevent people f r o m work ing together as a c ommunit y to

continue t o walk mi l e s and miles over arduous pat hs t o f et c h f uel, fodder and wa t e r ev ery day , wh i l e men sit idle wit hout doing anything to plant t rees in t h e denuded areas around them. It i s n o t s urpris ing t h a t t h e eucalyptus bas ed s o c i a l f o r e s t r y , trotted out to be such a great success by t he Wo r l d Bank and t he forest departments, is all in t h e hands o f men, all plant ing trees wit h the cash motive. O t h e r t h a n e mp l o y i n g women as cheap labour in nurseries, these agencies hav e nothing to show in terms o f involvement of women the very people wh o deal wit h f u e l and fodder and t h e government t o o still gives t his t he n a me o f Soc ial Forestry. B u t may be t h i s s hould not b e surprising. Ma k i n g a f a s t buck, ev en at the expense o f society and ecology, i s probably t he most social t hing w e c a n do i n a cash economy. Male migrat ionanot her ma j o r phenomenon i n mo d e r n s oc iet y also increases the wo r k b u r d e n o f women, who then have to t ak e c are not only of household needs but also have t o dev ot e mo r e t i me t o t h e family's agric ult ural fields. B u t as the time needed t o c ollec t f uel a n d fodder grows, agric ult ure gets neglected. A study o f three villages i n the K u ma o n region o f Ut t a r Pradesh, f o r instance, s hows t h a t t h e ratio o f h u ma n energy s pent i n collecting fuel and f odder is already

est o f the c ount ry , on, t h e inc reas ing women i s affecting I t heir lives, A study list title o f Managebad shows that men at at primary health
Myles m o r e I ha n

do not have time to yen when they are ill. )perat ions Research western U. P. t h a t omen wo r k f o r 14 y do this almos t till re the deliv ery and . tan k t old t h e O RG ire 3 too much loaded hores. Ho s p i t a l s , re 4 t o o mu c h t ime .ss d f or us'. a yfrom rural Punjab the problems faced s t h e r e -

As time for fuel and m grows and firewood alluring fields w i l l be 2 wdung will be used as e r plains, but w i t h the ,ng, these fragile soils ed t very soon. I t will us situation both for h and the environment. e :amc across another t sakes the same point. r on Ratnagiri district, a e of male workers for d ombay. Ratnagiri i s i few districts i n t h e t the sex ra t io i s i n i nen. I t has far more o men. S a y s Ra ja n i n acted t h e study: ;ond a , many o f the BICII'S ti l it the fru its o f such : land must somehow C lowed t o l i e fallow. N ,waste is as high as 21 total land under cuttio ng to the agricultural r t) whereas it was 3.7 tharashtra as a whole. h eis that it is not f a r ve found wit h intery view, land cultivation l ) b c le ss intensive e a id than desired), o r r I, because manpower n female power) in t adequate'.
o

watershed management in the Himalayas and in the Ghats. T h e Himalayas are being described as one o f the most threatened ecosystems i n the world, which in t u rn determines the fate o f several hundred million people in the Indo-Gangetic plains. But i f any action f o r ecological reconstruction has t o b e taken in the hills, it cannot be done without the involvement o f women. T h e census data o f 1981 shows that all the districts in the country which have high rates o f female work participation are situated in the Himalayas o r in the Ghats. In the Himalayas most women workers are also classified as cultivators. Therefore, any programme which a ims a t ecological rehabilitation i n these areas w i l l have to involve heavily overworked
women, unles s , o f c ours e l a b o u r

is brought in t o these areas f ro m outside, which will Create tensions of another kind. Fortunately, t h e experience o f the Chipko Movement shows that
women i n these parts, despite t heir

14-16 h o u r back-breaking w o r k
schedule, a r e ex t remely k e e n t o

.e increasing intensity las been considerable

participate in such wo rk, especially in tree planting. Once the women are organized and mobilized, they wo rk with great keenness and they fight any obstacles that may be created by men, and a s a result, some o f the highest tree survival rates in afforestation efforts a re obtained. I t has also been found that when women get involved in afforestation, they tend

headloadingbringing wood on their heads to sell in the townsmaking the firewood trade the largest employer i n t h e commercial energy sector of the country. Surveys show that selling firewood is a profession that has grown ra p id ly in the last As exactly similar experiences have 10-15 ye a rs w i t h th e g ro wth i n been noted in East and West Africa, landlessness and joblessness. M o s t in Kenya and in the Sahelian coun- of these headloaders are women, and tries, there is every reason to believe mostly trib a l women. Selling firethat this differential interest in nature wood i s back-breaking wo rk and between men and women is cross- brings extremely little money. B u t cultural i n character. Ma le tre e s the women d o t h is because th e y and female trees is now even becom- cannot rely on t h e ir men t o b rin g ing something o f a jargon amongst any ca sh b a ck home. T h e b i g those interested i n involving com- advantage with headloading is that this wo rk i s generally available munities in afforestation. round the year. S o when no other work is available, heaclioading a t All this should not be taken to construe that poor rural households least provides some income. do not have a n y need f o r cash. The life o f the headloaders o f The unfortunate thing is that much Ranchi sh o ws h o w difficult t h is of the cash generated b y the ma le entire business o f headloading is. does not get spent o n household needs. A reasonable proportion o f The women wake u p early in the this cash gets spent o n products morning, at about 4 a.m. and soon like alcohol and tobacco and a rt e - after they begin their tre k t o th e facts of modernization like transistor forest. On reaching the forest, some 8-10 kin away, they begin collecting radios. firewood. B y the afternoon, having This situation is creating a new collected the firewood, they do not demand o n the time o f the p o o r return home but go o f f t o Ranchi women and in some cases, it is resul- on a train. They spend the night at ting i n a new milita n cy against the Rancid railway station, wh ich nature. Women now have to go out these days is an extraordinary sight. and also earn some cash. Millions of Then early morning they sell t h e rural women today sell firewood in wood, a load of some 20-25 kg. Fo r the towns and cities. I f we lo o k at this entire load they get Rs. 5-6, a the quantum rof firewood consumed third o f which they lose in bribing in the cities, we can say that at least the forest guard on a fixed weekly trees wh ich ca n me e t household needs, whereas men demand trees that can generate cash. T h e biggest ally in the demand f o r an ecologically and socially sound nature is, therefore, womankind.

free ride. W i t h t h e ney, t h e wo me n buy osene f o r light ing and Isehold necessities and [ hat evening they cook he first freshly c ook ed Lys. Ne x t morning the begins afresh. loading woman knows will be soon destroyed ; horrible oc c upat ion ii end. B u t t hey are hey do not take advanest now, the foresters to a contractor soon. irt menl s headloading banned. a r n Me e o s t udy o f t he e headloading. If x t Th e y r any e e plans t o meet m e of Jells l the cities. They ynot made any ef f ort , two issues. Foresters i ioiuiicntal isis. They Nomen destroy young excessively; therefore, wonder forests are a most t ribal agitations. a head c ount at t h i s did t h a t t he destrucmvironment a n d i t s is already affecting on nd on a daily basis at Mg groups : artisans, fisberfolk, a n d most landless, margifarming households. Id up t o no less t han !e-quarters o f t h e

And u n l i k e t h e s it uat ion i n t h e West, t he question o f environmental destruction is not a n is s ue relat ed to quality of life but it is a question of survival,
TOW A RDS H OL I S TI C M A NA GE M E NT

L C I L I W I

I f these be t he problems , t h e n what d o we do about them? F i r s t of all, t here mus t be a muc h more holistic t h i n k i n g r e g a r d i n g t h e management o f our land a n d wa t e r resources. A n d this w i i i unless a det ermined ef f ort is made. For all theetalk about the need f or a not b e a s y scientific t emper, , i t mus t be recognized t hat t he c urrent met hodology of scientific analysis c arries wi t h i n itself an extremely unscientific prac tise, t hat of , reductionism. I t is this reductionist approach that has today produced b o t h nat ural a n d s oc ial scientists who k now more and mo r e about less and less: wh o k now how to cure a disease but create anot her disease in the process. Ecology is the first scientific d i s c i p l i n e t h a t h a s actually f orc ed people t o integrate and not reduce. Let me illustrate this by describing what i s happening t o t h e t h r e e major components o f our land: o u r forest lands, our crop lands and o u r grazing lands. The destruction of forests has a major impact on the produc t iv it y o f our crop lands. T h i s happens in two ways. Soil erosion increases manifold

floods a n d drought s . B u t equally import ant i s the impact of the shortage o f firewood on t he produc t iv it y of c rop lands. W h e n f irewood becomes scarce, people begin t o b u r n cowdung and crop wastes. I n many places c owdung and crop wastes are now t he ma j o r sources o f c ook ing energy. Th u s , s lowly every p a r t o f the plant gets used and not hing goes back to t h e s oil. Ov er a period o f time, t his nut rient drain affects c rop productivity. Add to this, the technology o f t he Green Rev olut ion: t he technology o f growing high-y ielding varieties on a limit ed diet o f c hemical f ert iliz ers l i k e nit rogen, p h o s phates and potash. The total biomass production goes up and s o does the drain o f the nut rient s f rom the soil. Plants need some 25-odd elements to grow, not j u s t N, P and K . T h e y keep taking o u t these nutrients f rom the s oil and t he more intensive t h e agriculture, wit hout any manure and crop wastes going back to t he s oil, the f as t er i s t h e n u t r i e n t drain. Today, t he district of Ludhiana has the highest yields of many cereals but it has also t he highest deficiencies o f many micro-nutrients i n it s soil. I n Punjab, many f armers hav e begun to use zinc rout inely as a fertilizer. Soon it will b e sulphur, manganese and i r o n deficiencies, T h e mi c r o nutrient f ert iliz er indus t ry , already a Rs . 10 crore industry, i s def init e to bec ome t h e b o o m industry o f the future. But the net res ult is that I ndian agric ult ure, because o f t his

is s howing a consistently declining trend i n out put when c ompared t o the rapidly ris ing levels o f inputs. I f existing c rop lands a n d i r r i gation water resources are n o t used well, t hen faced wit h a ris ing population, the demand f or c oloniz at ion of marginal lands f o r agric ult ure will grow. A s large part s o f t he country h a v e ex c ellent s oils a n d enormous s unlight a n d t h e o n l y shortage i s o f wat er, gov ernment programmes h a v e a l s o p r o mo t e d the c ult iv at ion o f marginal lands , especially t h r o u g h s pread o f i r r i gation. Fort unat ely , t h e r a t e o f expansion o f the c ropped area has now c ome d o wn a s c ompared t o the I 950s and 196fis but enormous ecological damage has already been done. E v e n more t han forest lands, crop lands hav e expanded o n t o grazing lands . T h e res ult i s t h a t graziers hav e been pus hed o n t o lesser a n d les s er graz ing l a n d s . This has i n t u r n led t o t he ov erstocking of grazing lands, destroying their productivity and impoverishing the graziers in the process. The graziers have taken recourse to t wo strategies in such a situation. As t he env ironment becomes more and more hostile, they get rid of the more vulnerable cattle and start keeping goats. T h e number o f goats i n Rajasthan has expanded dramatically much f as t er t h a n any ot her livestock. Environmentalists m a y howl

animal t o the hostile that we human beings in Rajasthan, Gujarat shim, I t makes ecoTor the grazier to reduce rig a period of drought, mon in these areas. ers t ry t o solve th e ir yet another way: they forests as grazing lands. tes foresters wh o see attic as the worst evil It is true that India's mong the most heavily ,ts i n th e wo rld . A s now disappearing i n d Gujarat, nomads from now e n te r Ma d h ya large numbers, s t ill a ,ted state, ;Leis in Madhya Pradesh, y gn' i invaders b u t t h e .irt struck down the ban t ndians cannot b e resh going fro m one state iSo the inter-state moves , but clashes are accelerai resters killed 5,000 sheep n nely brutal event on the v b o rd e r l a s t ye a r tan a Illiticians rushed to rouse s these nomads, and inst iffiart to break down the gistic relationship that o d n between the nomads ,d b farmers. T h e nomawould bring manure to a n n e d

mals would gather nutrients f ro m all over and dump them on t o the farmers' fields where they would rest and the nomad would even be paid for this service. B u t today there is open hostility. M.P.'s fo re st secretary recently wrote a n article i n th e Times o f India saying: ' F o r t h e lo v e o f Mike, please keep these animals out o f o u r forests'. I f o n ly t h e animals co u ld b e ke p t o u t , t h e forests would regenerate themselves. But such despair i s n o answer. Animals cannot obviously be kept out without creating extraordinary conflicts. Meanwhile, however, the foresters have found a n ingenious solution: plant trees lik e eucalyptus wh ich 'cannot b e browsed b y animals. Eucalyptus i s lo ve d b y foresters exactly f o r this reason. Th e re are many wh o d o u b t t h e a b ilit y o f eucalyptus t o produce more wood than many indigenous species. B u t it is indeed iro n ic th a t when the country faces an acute fodder crisis, the forester can only plant eucalyptus and produce non-browsable biomass, that is, we mu st d o exactly th e opposite o f what the people need. In fact, eucalyptus is the true weed from the point of view of the landless. It i s non-browsable lik e a l l fastspreading weeds and does not benefit the poor unless they own land.

departments have destroyed forests by selling off timber to the industrial and urban interests. T h e firewood shortage and the resulting soil erosion is keeping the productivity of Indian agricultural lands low. C r o p lands have expanded on to marginal lands and have reduced grazing lands. Animals have moved in t o forests and are preventing regeneration. A l l the chickens are coming t o roost. Meanwhile as landlessness and joblessness grow, even groups like the tribals who from times immemorial have live d i n to ta l harmony wit h forests a re tu rn in g against forests and want to sell them off as fast as they can, Experts s it i n grand isolation. Foresters have no interest in fuetwood or i n cro p la n d s . A g ric u lt u ra l experts have no interest in animals or in grazing lands. A n ima l husbandry people n e ve r t e l l fo re ste rs t h a t they must produce fodder banks. In the life o f the proverbial last man of Gandhior as I would prefer, the la s t personall t h is isolated thinking brings havoc. L i f e for the poor becomes terrible. Fin a lly, even nature t u rn s against itself. On ce denuded, the high solar energy and temperaturesthe very factors th a t can b rin g h ig h productivity a n d high prosperitybegin to bring high desiccation, erosion, destruction, and social and ecological poverty. F A O figures show that the effect o f un-

- the wo rld g ive n t h e ecoch inane conditions o f South and Southeast Asia.

IM P ROV ING TD B C O U N T R Y 'S G R O S URE S N AT P R OD U C T

Nothing could be more important for planners and politicians today than to re b u ild nature. B u t th is can only be done i f we re-establish a healthy relationship between the people a n d t h e i r environment. Then o n ly a nature that is useful to t h e millio n s, n o t f o r making millions c a n b e re-established. Regardless o f what happens in the Westits electronics revolution, its biotechnology inventions, it s communications satellites, its efforts to mine the oceans and its efforts to build solar cells and wind mills and regardless o f h o w mu ch we may wa n t t o catch u p wit h t h e West in the name of modernizatiOn, rebuilding nature and rebuilding its relationship wit h th e people w i l l remain the o n ly way to solve the problem o f poverty and possibly even unemployment. W i t h s o m e 100-150 millio n hectares o f waste and n e a r crying need t o produce biomass, this can never get a better w a country ste opportunity l a n d to harness the power of its s people to the power o f it s land, to a strike n at the roots o f landiessness, poverty and unemployment, a ll a t d same the time. w i t h t h e

)nomists a n d b y t he ation, w i l l n o t d i s definitely t h e rigours the inc reas ing s u s natural emergencies d droughts, and deftcreasing r i g o u r s o f arrested b y creating I n fact, conventional of poverty based o n or o n f o o d c alories dequate i n a situation of the biomass needs increasingly dif f ic ult collecting t h e m o n constitutes t he wors t drudgery humankind, nankind, h a s e v e r : calculations are n o t equate b u t t hey als o gender bias because ly wit h t hos e aspects ck o f cash) t hat t he Idly c onc erned w i t h ose aspects of poverty In deals wit h (lack o f vater, etc.). ,o construct a concept ire Product, we would the p o o r i t i s t h i s is many times more in t h e c onv ent ional Product. I n fact, we that t hos e wh o d o 7rom the conventional , r ically dependant o n ature Produc t . T h e a Produc t c annot be 1 r e t h e o n e s w

The economists get very worried about t h e s t ruc t ure o f t h e Gros s Nat ional Produc t . I t i s e q u a l l y important, i f t hey have the poor in mind, t o g e t wo r r i e d a b o u t t h e structure o f the Gros s Nat ure Product. I t i s n o t jus t t h e quant it y of biomas s t h a t i s import ant f o r meeting basic hous ehold needs b u t also its diversity: sources of biomass wit hin a n y v illage ecosystem mu s t be diverse enough to meet the diverse household needs o f Ne t , f odder, building materials, etc., and o f artisans. The diversity in nature has also acted as an insurance during periods of emergency by reducing societal vulnerability. During periods of drought and res ult ing c r o p f ailures , wh i c h are rec urring phenomena i n ma n y parts of India, roots, leaves and wild animals i n t h e f ores t s , generally become a n i mpor t ant , alt ernat iv e source o f nut rit ion. I n 1983, t h e tribals o f Chot anagour s urv iv ed a drought not because o f gov ernment assistance b u t des pit e gov ernment callousness. I t is t he forests wh i c h gave them their nutrition. S u r v i v i n g on t he forests during a drought is c ommon i n Bastar. A study f r o m Africa found that in times of drought, traditional societies had nearly 150 responses. T h e y even fed the thatch of t heir hut s t o t he goats. B u t i n a modern v illage t here were o n l y two responses: prayer to God (which even t h e Ta mi l Na d u gov ernment recommended d u r i n g t h e Ma d r a s

grasses, c rops , animals and ponds , which w e f o u n d i n almos t ev ery village was a n ex t raordinary int eractive and res ilient system t o emergencies. I ns t ead o f destroying t his complex a n d int er-relat ed s y s t em, science mus t be used t o build o n it. I n ot her words, i t is not enough t o pres erv e biologic al div ers it y i n just t h o s e areas o f o u r c o u n t r y where t he flora and f auna are genetically r i c h a n d diverse b y s et t ing up bios phere reserves a n d nat ional parks, b u t t hat biologic al div ers it y must be preserved and/ or recreated in every village ecosystem. Co n c e n trating o n t he produc t ion o f a f ew commodities (cereals, f o r instance) is t ot ally inadequat e i n a s oc iet y whic h i s o n l y p a r t l y monet iz ed and where t h e v as t ma j o r i t y s t i l l have t o depend o n access t o f ree biomass res ourc es f r o m t h e i mmediate environment. E v e r y village has t o become a biosphere reserve. Understanding o f t h e G r o s s Nature P r o d u c t a n d h o w i t i s changing wi t h i n t he nat ional ec ological s pac e ( o r s h a l l w e s a y , national e c o n o my ) i s ex t remely limited, despite its crucial importance for t h e poor. W e k n o w n o t h i n g f or instance, a b o u t t he import anc e of the so-called weeds . T h e reason we k now so l i t t l e about the Gross Nat ure P r o d u c t i s bec aus e t h e 'growing stock' o f biomass does not get reflected i n Gros s N a t i o n a l

stock' l i v e s o r d i e s , ex i s t s o r disappears, d o e s n o t m a k e a n y difference t o ec onomis t s . M o s t economists, not surprisingly, have no clue of what happens to a subsistence economy when its biomass resources are affected. T h e growing hardships and t ens ions o n l y get reflected i n studies o f 'political economy' whic h record growing forests, c o n f l fodder, i c t s grazing lands, wat er sources, o v eetc., r or in totally unexpected indicators lik l a n d e t he sex rat io o f the , country. J u s t wh y d i d 2 2 mi l l i o n women f a i l t o s how u p in I ndia' s 1982 census i s any body ' s gues s . Surely t h e i r ex t raordinary w o r k burden, i n a s it uat ion o f malnut rition, mus t be an import ant factor. It i s f o r t h i s reas on t h a t a n indicator like Gross Nat ure Product, and changes in that indicator, would probably r e f l e c t f a r b e t t e r t h e changing realit y i n t h e substance sector o f a c o u n t r y l i k e I n d i a . how t o construct such an indicator. U But I a m s ure i f we did, w e wi l l n find t h a t wh i l e t h e c onv ent ional f o G NP has gone up, tile Gross Nat ure r Product h a s s t eadily g o n e d o wn , tthe f ormer ac t ing as a parasite o n tile latter. u n a The answer t o I ndia's immediate t problem of poverty lies in increasing the e biomas s av ailable i n n a t u r e l and increasing i t in a manner t hat y access to it is ensured on an equitable w e d o n o t k n o w

D uld probably require ic thinking that plants and scientists have The conflicts a n d Lies i n t h e existing as have to be extremely I, Otherwise land-use mtinue to be chaotic. its w i l l continue t o g trees on community the so-called s o c ia l ammes because th e y will take away t h e ir Forest departments sants will only plant hick animals cannot s) even though there ler crisis a ll around. take u s clo se t o cept of gram swaralya to create village ecola a r e b io lo g ica lly If-reliant in their local :o the maximum extent ; will clearly demand intensive use o f o u r es like land and water e and diverse growing as. Any science which :o d o th is will tru ly to be called a people's indeed i t w i l l have lhe knowledge o f the

the involvement o f the people, e specially women, without whom this work cannot be done. The role o f women in recreating a healthy and useful environment cannot be overstressed. Immediately, at least, the country must recognize that a clear biomass policy is desperately needed, which recognizes th e competing uses f o r biomass in society, especially between biomass-based in d u stry, and p o o r households and sets clear priorities on the use o f biomass in a situation of scarcity. T h e needs o f the poor must b e specified as a priority use of biomass in the existing situation of environmental degradation, I f we fail to recreate nature o n a massive scale in a manner th a t generates employment and equity, n'ot only o u r villages but also o u r cities will become unlivable. M a n y people prefer t o c a ll t h e u rb a n migrants economic refugees f ro m the countrysideto my mind, many of them are really ecological refugees, displaced b y dams, b y mines, b y deforestation, b y destruction o f grazing lands, by floods, by droughts, and what not. W e are today the world's fourth largest urban population. Be fo re the end of the century we will be the largest. Managing this huge u rb a n population w i l l call f o r extraordinary political and managerial sagacity, something we cannot learn fro m the rest o f the

rates t o create the same demands Ward told the Stockholm Conference on o u r ru ra l environment i t w i l l that i f ecology teaches us anything only accelerate t h e destruction it is that we have only one earth, in of the ru ra l environment and i n which everything is related to everyturn make the urban environment thing else. I am today tempted to impossible to manage. India cannot paraphrase her: we, too, have only survive without a low-energy, lo w- one nation, wh e re everything i s resource input urbanization. I n its related t o everything else. O n l y absence, no la w o r laws which t ry a holistic approach to our problems to turn the incoming ecological and will work.

get challenge is before s a n d workers a n d have to play a crucial ing th a t people can this biomass-based