Description
The Chipko Movement, a grassroots environmental movement, began in the Indian Himalayas in the 1970s, is often seen as the first ecofeminist movement. It left a lasting impact on forest management in India and helped advance global forest conservation. The movement empowered local communities to achieve self-sufficiency and emphasized protecting natural resources for their livelihoods. Chipko challenged traditional development focused on economic growth over environmental health, sparking an ecological awakening that spread throughout India's valleys and forests. Today, its legacy continues to inspire environmental protection efforts, supports marginalized communities, and influences new ecological movements globally. This movement exemplifies ecofeminist environmental justice in resisting financialization and industrialization, especially affecting indigenous and Global South communities. My study explores the intersection of ecofeminist movements and environmental justice to protect nature and livelihoods. By examining how ecofeminism and environmental justice intersect, I aim to assess how this approach might decolonize environmental activism. This research will analyse local cultural values to explore decolonial ecologies and their role in activism. Climate change disproportionately impacts Global South communities, intensifying environmental injustices. However, fostering trans-local solidarities through ecofeminism and climate justice, as demonstrated by the Chipko Movement, can inspire new, decolonial approaches to activism.
