Educator

  T he Silent Valley project was a proposed hydroelectric dam across the Kunthipuzha river in Kerala, India, that would have submerged a large area of pristine evergreen forest in the Silent Valley region.  The project was opposed by a social and environmental movement that started in the 1970s and lasted for over a decade. The movement was led by various groups and individuals, such as the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), a voluntary organization of scientists and writers, the poet Sugatha Kumari, the environmentalist S. P. Godrej, and the activist Medha Patkar. The movement used various methods to raise awareness and protest against the project, such as letters, petitions, seminars, rallies, publications, and legal actions. The movement succeeded in convincing the government to cancel the project in 1983 and declare the Silent Valley as a national park in 1986123 .  The Silent Valley project was a controversial issue that sparked a debate on the trade...

  Fig.: Appiko Movement T he Appiko movement was a forest conservation movement in India that started in the 1980s. The movement was similar to the Chipko movement, which also involved people hugging trees to prevent them from being cut down by loggers. The Appiko movement was mainly active in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, where the natural forests were threatened by monoculture plantations of teak and eucalyptus. The movement was founded and led by environmental activist Panduranga Hegde, who was inspired by Sundarlal Bahuguna, a leader of the Chipko movement.  The aim of the movement was to protect the biodiversity and livelihoods of the local communities that depended on the forests.  The Appiko movement succeeded in achieving some of its objectives, such as:  Stopping the felling of green trees in some areas and forcing the government to withdraw the logging contracts.  Promoting afforestation and reforestation activities on degraded la...

Fig.: Chipko Movement   T he Chipko Movement The Chipko movement was a forest conservation movement in India that started in the 1970s. The name of the movement means “to hug” or “to cling to” in Hindi, because the protesters used to embrace the trees to prevent them from being cut down by loggers. The movement was mainly led by women, who depended on the forests for their livelihood and well-being. The movement also inspired many environmental activists and organizations to fight for the protection of nature and the rights of local communities. Some of the leaders of the Chipko movement were Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Sundarlal Bahuguna, Gaura Devi, and Medha Patkar. The Chipko movement began in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, where the forests were threatened by commercial logging and development projects. The villagers, especially the women, realized that the deforestation was causing soil erosion, water scarcity, floods, landslides, and loss of biodiversity. They also ...