The Rediff Special /Sudhakar Solomon Raj

The question is not of saving the tiger or the brow-antlered deer but of using our natural resources wisely

Sudhakar Solomon Raj on the 'we-them' attitude in Indian environmentalism

You heard it all last year; you'll hear it again.

Come World Environment Day on June 5 and those clever lines are repeated -- "A healthy environment is the need of the hour," "We need to protect our forests, reduce pollution and..."

Every June 5th, without fail, will hear these statements and see the organisation of annual ecological 'programmes', most of them ritualistic. But the environment continues to deteriorate, lifestyles continue to move away from that which is sound in the long term, and environmental issues continue to be viewed in the rather piecemeal and simplistic ways expected of a publicity agency.

Environmental issues need to be understood and resolved along with the socio-political and economic matters that are mostly responsible for them. So-called environmentalists in India and even those really concerned have rarely been open to other world views and perspectives. Their biggest failure is the failure to communicate, the failure to listen -- really listen -- and the failure to send messages in a language which includes the concerns and apprehensions of those who are being communicated with.

Environmental related messages are very rarely couched in a language which evokes positive response.

Peter Drucker, a management guru, said, 'Efficiency is doing things rightly, effectiveness is doing the right thing.' But environment communication in India has been efficient but rarely effective. It has not taken into consideration the needs of distinct groups. Hence, there is hardly any dialogue, even among concerned groups, and absolutely no dialogue between groups which are seen as being antagonistic to environmental causes.

The 'we-them' attitude prevents the path towards inclusive solutions to create win-win situations. However, the 'we-them' attitude is much easier since it helps find scapegoats, avoids the difficult process of continual introspection, struggling through options and the task of understanding the other side's mindset, fears and insecurities and working through them.

The environment movement in the west was influenced among other things by Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring which focussed on the ill-effects of pesticides. The first Earth Day, on April 22, 1990, created greater publicity and led to a spate of environment-related legislation like the Clean Air Act.

The Indian environment movement scene, meanwhile, has progressed in two distinct directions. The first one was elitist and focussed on issues pertaining to wildlife. The other, at the people's level, was driven more by economic concerns like access to basic forest products (fuel, fodder and fibre).

These initiatives were best symbolised in the Chipko movement organised by Sunderlal Bahuguna in Garhwal, at the foothills of the Himalayas, since 1973. There have been many similar movements but these initiatives have been fragmented and the environment movement in India has not really had much of an impact.

Environmental consciousness at the global level began with the first environment conference at Stockholm in 1972. Indira Gandhi was the only head of government at that conference and her statement poverty was the most significant pollutant created a lot of impact, though in terms of content and meaning it was more rhetoric than anything.

The imperative of development seemed to legitimise all kinds of assault on environment and natural resources. Indian agencies have failed to penetrate people's consciousness about the extent of environmental degradation.

The rapidly reducing forest area is one of the most serious problems in India as it affects water supply. All rivers in the plains have their source in forests, which make up the catchment area. The controversial Narmada project in Gujarat, in addition to displacing large number of people is destroying large tracts of forests. Destruction of forests has led to very high levels of siltation. In Bombay and surrounding areas, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Tansa wildlife sanctuary are the catchment areas for water supply to the crowded metropolis.

These forests are under threat from quarrying, encroachment and plain destruction. Forests in other parts of India are being destroyed at a rapid pace and the Supreme Court intervened in early 1997, stopping cutting in most parts of India, especially in the north-east, which has the most forest cover.

For a country of India's size, 33 per cent of land needs to be under forest cover. Only 20 per cent of the land is forest land according to government records, but satellite reports show forest cover at being between 7 and 10 per cent. The situation is really serious as more and more parts are becoming drought-prone.

E F Schumacher in his book Small is beautiful said that natural resources are like capital and we need to live off the interest, but we are eating into the capital itself, thus stealing from future generations.

The rapid deterioration of the natural resource base not only affects the poorest of the poor but also leads to large-scale migrations. Urban areas becomes impoverished. Bombay's population stands at 102 million and every day more people keep coming in putting more pressure on resources.

So on June 5, what is a matter of priority besides pious statements and clichés, is to understand the enormity, complexity and seriousness of the situation.

The question in India is not of saving the tiger or the brow-antlered deer (found in Manipur and possibly the rarest deer in the world) but of using our natural resources wisely. All species affect the health of the natural resources system directly as stated in a letter, supposedly written by the native American Seattle chief to the president of the USA: "Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself."

It is very easy to find fault and point fingers but our lifestyles based on a use-throwaway culture, a culture which has no time or concern for either economic use or regeneration, needs to be examined and positive steps taken.

"Now the blame cannot fall on the heads of a few; it has become such a part of the race," said John Denver in his And you say that the battle is over. We need to begin looking for solutions as a community and go beyond singing slogans and enjoying ourselves at that carnival called World Environment Day.

Professor Sudhakar Solomon Raj teaches politics at a Bombay college and is involved in environmental issues.

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