Can Environment and Development Go Together?

Ashish KothariKalpavriksh

India’s Impressive Growth• One of world’s biggest economies, high growth

rates, amongst world’s richest persons, 800 million mobile phones …

‘Development’• Development = opening up of

opportunities: intellectual, cultural, material, social

vs• ‘Development’ = material

growth (through industrial and financial expansion)– measured in % economic

growth, per capita income, etc

• ‘Development’ model currently dominant only 50-60 years old

Today’s vision of ‘development’

Violence against nature, communities, and cultures

Destruction of India’s environment

– >5.5 million ha. forest diverted in last 60 years– 70% waterbodies polluted or drained out– 40% mangroves destroyed– Some of the world’s most polluted cities and

coasts– Nearly 10% wildlife threatened with extinction– Extensive chemical poisoning

Smitu Kothari

‘Green / White revolution’ models

•addiction to outside seeds, water, fertilisers, pesticides, credit •soil loss and degradation•dependence on market, govt, moneylenders•monocultures, bias against diversity •neglect of dryland, seasonal, shifting agriculture

Pauperisation of marginal/small farmers: >250,000 suicides (many in heartland of green revolution!)

Destruction of India’s agriculture

Cost of environmental damage = 5.7% points GDPWorld Bank (2013)

(impacts taken into account) •urban & indoor air pollution•inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene•agricultural damage by soil salinity, water-logging & soil erosion •pasture degradation•deforestation

Growthless growth

Jobless growth, continuing deprivation, new dispossession

• Myth of growing employment: ‘jobless growth’ in organised sector:– 26.7 million in 1991– 30 million in 2012

• % below poverty line: 38 to 70%

• World’s largest number of malnourished and undernourished women/children

• 60 million people displaced by ‘development’ projects

Over-consumption by the rich

• Does this really bring happiness?

Where is all the money going? 1% richest own almost 50% wealth!!!!

India the new Coloniser (with China)

>500,000 hectares of pasture/agricultural land taken over by Indian companies in Ethiopia

More in L. America and rest of Africa

Direct/indirect support by government

Towards alternatives

Food security: sustainable agriculture

• Reviving traditional diversity, promoting cultivated and wild foods• Creating community grain banks • Empowering women/dalit farmers, securing land rights• Creating consumer-producer links (Zaheerabad org. food restaurant) • Linking to Public Distribution System

Deccan Development Society (AP): integrating conservation, equity, &

livelihoods through sustainable agriculture

Towards organic, Kedia village (Jamui), Bihar

Water security: do we need big dams and canals?

KachchhWater self-sufficiency in one of India’s lowest rainfall regions

Arvari Sansad (Parliament), Rajasthan: water and food security through landscape governance

Natural resources: conservation & livelihoods

Conservation through decentralised governance: Mendha-Lekha (Maharashtra)

Informed decisions through monitoring, and regular study circles (abhyas gat)

All decisions in gram sabha (village assembly); no activity even by government officials without sabha consent

Conservation of 1800 ha forests, now with full rights under Forest Rights Act

Vivek Gour-Broome

Earnings from sustainable NTPF use (over Rs. 1 crore in 2011-12), and use of govt schemes towards: • Full employment• Biogas for 80% households• Computer training centre

• Training as barefoot engineers

2013: all agricultural land donated to village, collective ownership

www.kalpavriksh.org

Community based Adjutant stork (garud) protection in Bhagalpur area, Bihar

Livelihood security

Jharcraft (Jharkhand) Employment for >3 lakh families…

reviving crafts, reducing outmigration

Dharani, AP: farmer’s company(facilitated by Timbaktu Collective)

Maati Sangathan, UttarakhandWomen’s empowerment through local resource-based

livelihoods

The Village and the City …

Gram swaraj & rural revitalisation: outmigration is not inevitable

Ralegan Siddhi & Hivare Bazaar (Maharashtra), Kuthambakkam (TN)

Kudumbashree (Kerala)

Towards sustainable cities Bhuj (Kachchh): •reviving watersheds, decentralized water storage and management •solid waste management and sanitation •livelihoods for poor women •dignified housing for poor •Information-based empowerment under 74th Amendment

(Hunnarshala, Sahjeevan, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, ACT, Setu)

Middle class actions …

Lake revival / conservation, water harvesting, garbage management (Bengaluru, Salem)

Participatory budgeting (Bengaluru/Pune)

Learning & education Traditional and modern, oral and written, local and globalContinued links with cultural and ecological roots •Schools: Pachashala (Andhra), Jeevanshala (Narmada), CFL (B’lore), Adharshila (Madhya Pradesh) •Colleges: Adivasi Academy (Gujarat)•Other learning centres: Beeja Vidyapeeth (Uttarakhand), Bhoomi College (Karnataka), SECMOL (Ladakh)

Energy, technology…Energy: decentralised, renewable, efficient (Ladakh solar; SELCO Karnataka)

Solar micro-grid powering village Dharnai, Bihar

Energy, technology…

Technological innovations to reduce ecological impact, reach the poor (malkha cotton weaving, AP; Hunnarshala housing, Kachchh)

The government responds…• New laws:

– Right to Information Act– National Employment Guarantee Act– Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest

Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006

• New programmes: – Organic farming policies /

programmes in 16 states: Sikkim 100% by 2015, Kerala by 2020?

Decentralised governance

Nagaland ‘communitisation’: devolution of govt powers over education, electricity, health to village councils

Result: sharp increase in quality & quantity of services

Eco-swaraj: Radical ecological democracy

(Radical = going to the roots, challenging the conventional)

• achieving human well-being, through: – empowering all citizens & communities to participate in

decision-making– ensuring socio-economic equity & justice – respecting the limits of the earth

Community (at various levels) as basic unit of organisation, not state or private corporation

Towards a sustainable and equitable society … 5 pillars

•Ecological sustainability–Conservation of nature, sustainable use of resources

•Social well-being & justice–Equality between men/women, classes, castes, etc

•Direct democracy–Decision-making by citizens, accountable govt

•Economic democracy–Means of production in hands of producers, localised self-sufficiency, economy of caring/sharing

•Cultural and knowledge diversity–Knowledge as public resource, respecting cultural/ethnic diversity

Fundamental values & principles • Diversity and pluralism (of ideas, knowledge, ecologies,

economies, polities, cultures…)• Self-reliance for basics (swavalamban)• Cooperation, collectivity, and ‘commons’ • Rights with responsibilities/duties• Dignity of labour• Respect for subsistence • Qualitative pursuit of happiness• Equity / equality (gender, caste, class, ethnic)• Simplicity, enoughness (aparigraha)• Decision-making access to all• Respect for all life forms • Ecological sustainability

Pathways to ecological swaraj….• People’s resistance (Vedanta/POSCO, Orissa; anti-SEZ;

hundreds of others)• Stretching limits of system (RTI, FRA)• Citizens’ networking, joint actions, collective

visioning• Empowering political carriers of new visions ….

movements, students, unions, etc• Alternatives confluences (vikalp sangam)

Mutual learning with other peoples / cultures ….

• Latin American experiments: direct and delegated democracy, worker-led production, community health, land re-appropriation movements

• Europe’s degrowth movement • Cuba’s urban agriculture, public R&D • Indigenous peoples’ territorial struggles and notions

of well-being (buen vivir, sumak kawsay, ubuntu …) • Many others….

Vikalp Sangams (Alternatives Confluences): practical collaborations, bottom-up visioning

Vikalp Sangams (regional / thematic)Timbaktu, Andhra Pradesh, Oct 2014Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Feb 2015Ladakh, J&K, July 2015Wardha, Maharashtra, October 2015

Energy, Bodh Gaya, March 2016

www.alternativesindia.orgwww.vikalpsangam.org

• www.kalpavriksh.org

• www.vikalpsangam.org

• chikikothari@gmail.com

For more information….