Forest Futures – Global Representations and Ground Realities in the Himalayas

Under their slogan, "Ecology is permanent economy", the 'Chipko Movement' drew world attention to the struggle over forest rights. Taking its name from the Hindi word for 'embrace', villagers hugged trees and prevented contractors' from felling them. Dedicated to the protection of forests, the movement spread throughout India in the 1970s, changing the country's natural resource policy. "Forest Futures" argues that the hype took Chipko from its locale and took control away from local people. The portrayal of the Chipko movement largely ignored local histories of resistance, local conflicts and local forest practices. The book argues that the issues of forest control and sustainable forest use have to be seen in the context of concerns about social and economic development, regional autonomy, and the preferred futures of the local people.