|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harvest of nature
Democratizing Nature: Politics, Conservation, and Development in
India As Vandana
Shiva has memorably said, the world’s resources are at the hands of a
small number of multinational companies who "want to sell our
water, our genes, our cells, our organs, our knowledge, our cultures and
our future." Few realise that the Green Revolution has been an
ecological disaster resulting in the erosion of topsoil and leading to
the shortage of water, contamination of soil, the neglect of small
farmers and a greater susceptibility to pests. Its consequences have,
paradoxically, benefited the agrochemical industry, the factories
producing agricultural equipment and machinery, the builders of dams and
the petrochemical companies. Although agriculture and the beginning of settled life
announced the beginning of civilisation, it was also the beginning of
ecological imbalance. As agricultural surpluses were traded, markets
grew. This led to permanent settlements and urbanity. The increasing
demand for timber and food led to the abuse of Nature, and thus appeared
the earliest signs of conflict with it. The book focuses on two issues:
first, how government policies and the propagation of enormous projects,
coupled with local politics, affect nature conservation; and second, the
way in which policies relating to the state clash with the needs of
conservation. Eco-development in the GHNP in 1994, spurred by a large
loan from the World Bank, led to the development of hydel projects,
roads through restricted forest areas, mining and deforestation to meet
the fuel needs of the thousands of people who were involved in the
construction process. Most significantly, the development process was
also associated with the eviction of the local villages from the
national park. Rival political parties stepped in and used this
situation to play down the ruling party for its anti-people
activities. Unfortunately, practices of conservation are prone to
interference from corrupt officials who wield political clout. The
public, to use Naomi Klein’s expression, should go through a
"steep learning curve", so that ecological degradation, the
spread of food insecurities and the contamination of water among other
disasters can be avoided. Among the central concerns of this book are
perspectives on social movements, grassroots agitations and academic
discussions on political movements and the inherent contradictions
within them. But the book, arguably, lacks a little drama in being dry
as dust. Perhaps the authors ought to sound the note of alarm as does
Stephen Croall in his book on environmental politics by saying that the
preservation of this fragile universe and its ecosystem is the
responsibility of the human species that arrived late but caused
enormous upheavals on earth where all species had, thus far, integrated
themselves with nature. The authors may, perhaps, be aware of the case
of Ladakh (though it is not mentioned) as one place largely untouched by
science, technology and globalisation where nature is treated with
respect and women are given high status. The Californian town of Davis
is another eco-village where 25 per cent of local needs are met through
local cultivation, where every tree and bush bears edible fruits and
berries. More than dismantling technologies, an "ecological
perspective" must be in place where people are judged less in terms
of "efficiency" or "productivity" and measured more
in terms of "health, harmony, beauty, justice and equality".
Otherwise Ernst Mayr, the eminent biologist will not be far from the
truth that man is a "biological error" that has cast its
destructive spell on much of nature and himself. As Chomsky reiterates,
"The species has surely developed the capacity to do just
that`85with an assault on the environment that sustains life, on the
diversity of more complex organisms, and with cold and calculated
savagery, on each other as well."
|
New forms of genetic engineering,
nano-technologies and intellectual property rights have vitiated the
environment to an extent that it is soon going to be beyond our control
to avoid the pitfalls of liberalisation. Such are the themes discussed
by Chhatre and Saberwal in their timely book, Democratizing Nature.
Most importantly, the two authors discuss the role of electoral politics
in affecting the relationship between conservation and policy. In doing
so, their focus primarily has been on the Great Himalayan National Park
(GHNP).