HAVING an attractive, alliterative title is a prerequisite for popular books today, but it is Arthur Bonner"s subtitle that is seriously misleading. Averting the Apocalypse is not about "social

The Chipko movement halted commercial tree felling in UP's Chamoli district, but the women who led it are still fighting corrupt and indifferent forest officials and fund constraints to maintain the pace of development

In India, recent micro-experiments clearly show that environmental regeneration is possible if native wisdom and local decision-making is respected. Towards Green Villages sets out an environmental improvement strategy that is based on real life experiences of grassroots work in which people have improved their environment together with their economy. Three initial steps are essential. First, the decline in overall biomass production must be reversed. Second, economic growth and rural development programmes must focus on how to increase biomass in an equitable and sustainable manner.

The traditional Indian strategy of resolving conflict by non-cooperation, the satyagraha, has been revived in the Chipko, or "Embrace the Tree", the movement to protect trees from commercial felling. This paper traces the development of the philosophy and the non-violent resistance activities from the beginnings of Chipko in the early 1970's in Garhwal to its present role throughout most of India. It is unique in that it is based not on the politics of the distribution of wealth but on that of sustainable ecological stability, and it is dominated by women.

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi takes a keen interest in the development of her country's science and technology. Here, she talks to Anil Agarwal

From Kashmir to Burma, where tigers once lived amid lush forests, a vast tract of land has been laid bare by the timber industry. In its wake have come landslides, drought and yet further poverty. The only hope for the hill people is a Ghandian like movement which villagers have adopted to thwart developers.

This is a unique year for India s environmental movement. It marks the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy. It is also the 30th anniversary of the Chipko movement: women of the Himalaya hugged

WHENEVER a dictionary of green terms is written, even if it is in English, it will contain at least one Hindi word. And that word is Chipko. The idea that people are prepared to hug trees to save

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