Conservation – Radical Ecological Democracy

More powerful together – Alternatives as Resistance (Part 2)

December 28, 2020April 13, 2022 Capitalism, Community Rights, Conservation, Ecological democracy, Ecology, Environment, New Economy, New Politics, Power Dynamic, Sustainability

The contemporary resistance to neoliberalism is searching for ways in which it can raise up the values and relations it is fighting for. It is also looking for low-carbon, ecologically sensible, culturally grounded alternatives, which would help stop the destruction of the planet. In this second part of her series, “More Powerful Together – Alternatives as Resistance”, Jen Gobby describes how movements in Canada are challenging the stale idea of making our existing systems work better. Instead, they are offering new societal alternatives by forging resistance to colonialism and resurgence of Indigenous economies, governance structures and ways of life.

Agenda Analysis Ideas Stories

Setting out the principles of post-growth conservation

August 23, 2020April 13, 2022 Conservation, Ecology, Environment, New Politics, Power Dynamic

What would the post-growth conservation model look like? Would it continue to promote “fortress conservation” professing to preserve isolated ecosystems of “value” without really impacting the continued global exploitation of natural resources? Or, would it finally confront the profound sense of alienation that has developed between people and nature over the last three centuries through an almost demonic belief in free market capitalism ? A group of academics and activists from Wageningen University, the Netherlands and Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group puts forward a conceptual outline of the future of conservation.

Action Analysis Ideas Stories

Salween Peace Park – A place for all living things

May 31, 2020April 13, 2022 Community, Conservation, Democracy, Development, Ecology, Environment, New Politics, Power Dynamic

Situated in the crucial Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, the ancestral land of the Karen people of Myanmar is threatened by mining, mega-dams, logging and myriad other infrastructural development projects. In this fourth case study in the on-going solidarity series between REDWEb and the global “Yes to Life, No to Mining” (YLNM) network, the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) takes us to the “Salween Peace Park” where a successful initiative is charting a path away from destructive development.

Agenda Analysis Ideas Stories

Coronavirus and the life lessons from “ordinary” people to save the Earth and ourselves

May 17, 2020April 13, 2022 Agriculture, Community, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, New Economy, New Politics, Sustainability

As the world grapples with the challenges posed by Covid-19, it needs to decipher the messages encoded in the disease. Can we continue on the path of environmental destruction, which scientists predict may make pandemics more likely? How do we create alternatives to the industrial forms of natural resource use which have disrupted natural systems irreversibly? How do we break from the artificially created integration of production, consumption and trade under globalization? Ashish Kothari helps us solve the critical societal puzzle that Coronavirus has confronted us with in these mystifying times.

Action Agenda Analysis Ideas Stories

Thinking Outside the Grid

December 10, 2019April 13, 2022 Community, Conservation, Energy, New Economy, New Politics

As the enormity of the contemporary environmental and climate crises dawns on the larger society, the power elite has not shied away from offering grand even if brazenly dubious answers to these challenges – Green Growth, Clean Coal, Genetically Engineered Biofuels and myriad other mirages. Steven Gorelick lifts the lid on the pseudo solutions to our severe energy issues and points us in the direction of systemic change based on local solutions to the complex undertakings of energy production and distribution.

Action Analysis Ideas Stories

Landscapes of Renewal – Jukajoki, Linnunsuo and the Finnish Boreal

November 28, 2019April 13, 2022 Capitalism, Climate Change, Community, Conservation, Energy, New Politics, Power Dynamic, Sustainability

Finland has been affected by mass extractivism since the end of the Second World War. Peatlands, marsh-mires and old-growth forest across the country have been converted into mines and forest plantations, with huge impacts on rural communities practicing hunting, fishing, berry-gathering and small-scale farming. Over the past decade, the Finnish community of Selkie has successfully revived lands and waters damaged by extractive industries, using a blend of traditional knowledge and science. Tero Mustonen, Head of the Village of Selkie, explains how they stopped a mine and brought life back to Selkie’s rivers and marsh-mires. This is the first case study in the on-going collaborative series between REDWeb and the global “Yes to Life, No to Mining” (YLNM) solidarity network exploring emblematic examples of community resistance to extractivism and the life-sustaining alternatives they are defending and innovating.

Action Agenda Analysis Ideas Stories

Resist. Restore. Revive: The frontline communities sowing the seeds of post-extractivism

November 11, 2019April 13, 2022 Climate Change, Community, Conservation, Ecology, Economy, New Politics, Resistance, Sustainability

The metal and mineral mining industry, worldwide is responsible for over 20% of global carbon emissions. It has also destroyed critical ecological areas and has a frightful record of systematic human rights violations. Yes to Life, No to Mining Network (YLNM) is a network of and for communities who choose to resist mining while at the same time protecting and advancing life-sustaining knowledges, practices, economies and governance systems. Recently, YLNM undertook an exploration of a few of these community initiatives to create a series of interactive case studies, which share the stories of resistance to mining, restoration of damaged ecosystems and protection and development of alternatives to extractivism. REDWeb is collaborating with YLNM to bring five of these “emblematic case studies” to its readers over the course of the next five months. In an introductory article, Hannibal Rhoades from YLNM gives us an idea of the areas and issues this series will cover, and how it explores the evolving idea of the “search for alternatives”.

Action Agenda Analysis Conversations Stories

RED Conversations Series –Indigenous struggle for Autonomy and Territorial Rights in Bolivia

April 22, 2019April 13, 2022 Activism, Community, Conservation, Sustainability

Continuing with the conversations recorded by Ashish Kothari at the ACKnowl-EJ conference at Bir, Himachal Pradesh, India, the second interview features Mirna Inturias and Iokine Rodriguez, two activist researchers working with the Monkox indigenous community of Lomerio, in the lowlands of eastern Bolivia. The ACKnowl-EJ (www.acknowlej.org) project is an academic-activist led effort aiming to chart a path towards sustainable and equitable futures, away from extractivist pressures.

Conversations Stories

RED Conversations Series – A Unique Initiative In Central India

March 25, 2019April 13, 2022 Community, Conservation, Democracy

ACKnowl-EJ (www.acknowlej.org) is a network of scholars and activists engaged in action and collaborative research that aims to analyze the transformative potential of community responses to extractivism and alternatives born from resistance. The project aims to co-produce knowledge that can empower communities to push for change and geared towards the needs of social groups, advocates and social movements. It is doing this through partners in several countries, who are conducting in-depth case studies, contributing to the Environmental Justice Atlas (www.ejatlas.org), and producing collaborative reports and theoretical pieces based on this work. Its co-ordinators are the Environmental Science and Technology Institute at Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), and Kalpavriksh (Pune, India).

The ACKnowl-EJ partners met recently at Deer Park, Bir, Himachal Pradesh (India), to review the work done so far, and plan the final phase of the project (due to end in April 2019). In this first interview for REDWeb Ashish Kothari interviews Govind Hodi, Kumari Tai Jamkata, Izam Sai Katengey and Shubhada Deshmukh from Korchi, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, India. They are a group of activists involved with a unique initiative called the “Maha Gramsabha”, or the “Federation Of Village Assemblies”.

Agenda Analysis Ideas Stories

RED Conversations Series – “Alternative Futures: India Unshackled”

July 14, 2018April 13, 2022 Capitalism, Community, Conservation, Cooperatives, Democracy, Development, Ecology, Energy, Environment, New Economy, New Politics, Power Dynamic

Ashish Kothari was recently on a book tour in the U.S., promoting “Alternative Futures: India Unshackled”, a book he recently co-edited with K.J. Joy. Here, he discusses the main themes of the book with Pallav Das and an audience at “Busboys and Poets”, an activist book-store in Washington D.C.

Analysis Ideas Stories

The Green Party of Germany – From Beacon of Hope to a Bog-standard Party

April 19, 2018April 13, 2022 Capitalism, Climate, Community, Conservation, Democracy, Ecology, Environment

How do we think about alternative politics in light of the current stresses on the environment and the phenomenal increase in inequality, worldwide? Probably, the best place to start is to learn from similar experiments which took place in recent history. Saral Sarkar helps us understand the intellectual debate on the economy, ecology and social relations that took place within “green” politics in Germany, and its ramifications for the contemporary search for alternatives.

Action News Stories

European Water Movement – Statement from FAMA in Brasilia

April 4, 2018April 13, 2022 Community, Conservation, Democracy, Environment, New Politics, Sustainability

Multinational corporations want to transform water as a commodity and promote financialization of water bodies and ecosystems, privatizing resources and commodifying a human right. Social movements, unions, local communities, feminist groups and indigenous peoples gathered in Brazil to organize and fight against that vile attempt.

Analysis Stories

Yawal Wildlife Sanctuary – Resurgence Through People’s Participation

October 28, 2017April 13, 2022 Community, Conservation, Environment

Yawal Wildlife Sanctuary in central India offers an excellent example of how village councils, with the help of local organizations and government agencies, can use the Forest Rights Act to transform a protected area on the brink of ecological and social disaster into a thriving habitat for wildlife. Neema Pathak-Broome and Yagyashree Kumar take us on that tough and meandering path to recovery.

Action News Stories

Indigenous Community Conserving the Philippine Eagle

September 27, 2017April 13, 2022 Community, Conservation, National Parks, Society

An indigenous community initiates a conservation project with the help of the IUCN to save the threatened Philippine Eagle in the strife stricken Mindanao island.

Stories

The story of a principled chief conservator of forests in Chhattisgarh

April 4, 2016April 13, 2022 Chhattisgarh, Conservation, India

In Bastar, Chhattisgarh, whatever development projects and schemes are prepared and implemented by the government there is no substitute for