Rights of Nature is the recognition and honoring that Nature has rights. It is the recognition that our ecosystems – including trees, oceans, animals, mountains – have rights just as human beings have rights. Rights of Nature is about balancing …
The particular character if what Hugo Chávez called the Bolivarian process lies in the understanding that social transformation can be constructed from two directions, “from above” and “from below.” Bolivarianism—or Chavismo—includes among its participants both traditional organizations and new autonomous
The Longo Mai movement is a group of agricultural cooperatives with a basic grass-roots, alternative, rural, laic and sustainable ideology. It has its origins in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France. Young people from the “generation 68” founded the first settlement …
Based on his work in mountain communities in Mexico (and in other parts of Latin America), David Barkin suggests the need for a ‘‘dialogue of knowledge systems’’ or dialogo de saberes, a concept used in Latin America that is …
The village’s green initiative first started in 1997 when the village council decided that it should build new industries, keep initiatives local, bring in new revenue, and create no debt. Over the past 14 years, the community has equipped nine …
From a village of bird hunters, Mangalajodi in Orissa is now a village of bird protectors. ASHISH KOTHARI recounts how the transformation happened.
“Black-tailed godwits,” said my companion, pointing to a swirling cloud of specks in the distance that alternately …
Even as villages offering home-stays become increasingly common in the Himalaya, there are some that are different. Sarmoli, located on the slopes above Munsiari town in Uttarakhand, offers an experience that few others can. Sitting on the balcony of a …
The official Rio+20 outcome was – somewhat predictably – a bit of a disappointment. However, the real seeds of progress were sown on the sidelines. A number of events at the People’s Summit held the promise of effective citizens’ action …
Located in the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh, close to the town of Penukonda, the Timbaktu Collective is an initiative to empower villagers (particularly the poorest amongst them) to take charge of their own future. And the future of their …
In August 2010, the U.N. Secretary General set up a “High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability,” to formulate a “new vision for sustainable growth and prosperity” for the world. Co-chaired by the Presidents of Finland and South Africa, the panel submitted …
Sikandar’s village Upar Konki in Jharkhand is one of several settlements that are challenging two “development” dogmas: that one needs large-scale industrialisation to provide employment, and that rural-urban migration is inevitable. How are they doing it? With a little bit …
People’s Sustainability Treaty on Radical Ecological Democracy
What its origin is: built on grassroots experiences in India and elsewhere, that provide alternatives to the currently unsustainable and inequitable ‘development’ process; linked to the PST treaties a few months before …