11 Most Important Environmental Movements

Important Environment Related movements in India

1. BISHNOI MOVEMENT :It was started in 400 years ago by a Sage known as Sombaji, in Rajasthan. A large number of trees are still worshipped by devotees. people resisted the cutting of such tree & advocated movement against deforestation.

2.CHIPKO MOVEMENT :

It was started in 1973 is the Chamoli district of Uttranchal, Chipko movement was against deforestation. Sunderlal Bahueguna , Gauri devi & Chandi Prasad Bhatt were prominent leaders of this movement. Chipko movement in the Garhwal Himalayas, shoved aside urban armchair naturalists.It was a people’s revolt against mindless deforestation and they did it simply by hugging trees when the woodmen came to axe them.

3.SAVE SILENT VALLEY MOVEMENT :Save Silent Valley was a social movement aimed at the protection of Silent valley, an evergreen tropical forest in the Palakkad district of Kerala, India.

It was a movement against a hydro-electric project on the river Kuthipuzha, a tributary at Preiyar river in Kerala. In fact, the project site is covered by evergreen forest which is a home of many rare species of plants & fauna which many be destroyed by submergence. 

It was started in 1973 to save the Silent Valley Reserve Forest from being flooded by a hydroelectric project. The valley was declared as Silent Valley National Park in 1985. Nonetheless the controversy surrounding the valley is still on.. 

4.BALIYAPAL MOVEMENT :It is a movement against testing of missiles on the land of Baliyal villagers which may lead to infertility of soil.

5. NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN :It is a movement against building multi-purpose dam over Narmada river which will ultimately result in flood & water logging in large area covered by about 1,00,000 people. The movement was led by Medha Patekar, Baba Amte & Arundhati Roy.

6. APPIKO MOVEMENT :

The Appiko movement was a revolutionary movement based on environmental conservation in India.It was inspired by Chipko Movement. It inspired the villagers of the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka State in southern India to launch a similar movement to save their forests. In September 1983,led by Panduranga Hegde, men, women and children of Salkani "hugged the trees" in Kalase forest. (The local term for "hugging" in Kannada is appiko.) Appiko movement gave birth to a new awareness all over southern India.It is organised by Pandu Ram Hegde of Karnataka.

7.SAVE GANGA MOVEMENT :Save Ganga Movement is a widespread Gandhian non-violent movement supported by saints and popular social activists across the Indian States Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in support of a free Ganga. The movement is supported by Ganga Seva Abhiyanam, Pune-based National Women's Organisation (NWO) besides those of many other like-minded organisations and with the moral support from many religious leaders, spiritual and political, scientists, environmentalists, writers and social activists.

8.Ganga Calling – Save GangaSimilar to save Ganga Movement,this is another such campaign supported by Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action (ICELA).

9. Jungle Bachao Andolan, 1980sIt began in Bihar and later spread to states like Jharkhand and Orissa.The tribals of Singhbhum district of Bihar bubbled up a protest when the government decided to replace the natural sal forests with highly-priced teak, a move that was termed "a greed game, political populism".

10. Navdanya Movement, 1982Vandana Shiva,founded Navdanya in 1982, an organisation promoting biodiversity conservation and organic farming.The organisation has not only helped create markets for farmers, but also promoted quality food for consumers, connecting the seed to the cooked food.

11.Development Alternatives, 1983

In 1983, Ashok Khosla founded NGO named Development Alternatives.Through this NGO, he began his work towards financial, social and environmental sustainability at the grassroot level. Over the years, his 15 environmentally-sound and commercially-viable technologies have generated more than three lakh jobs across India.