Environmentalism in India- HS- 200-ks-iitb-sociology- Lecture-7 Forms of conflict, tactics/strategies of resistance, and ideologies
Collective actions Environmentalism that gives rise to collective action problems, operates at diverse and disparate number of sites or locations ; accompanied by globalization of economy and polity, important concerns and their solutions on a global scale have gained ground in today’s world. We would analyze these themes, we draw from the ecological-symbolic perspective, which focuses attention not only on the material basis of ecological problems but also construction of meanings.
Collective responses as mediated social responses to hazards and disasters are affected by both the nature of the disruption in human/environmental relations, and the appraisals people make of those disruptions. So, human responses to ecological hazards are mediated by interpretative processes (Kroll- Smith and Couch 1993).
Strategic linkages between agencies Many international problems are addressed through cooperation among states, but their causes and solutions typically involve a complex of non-state actors such as industry groups, scientists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and indegenous peoples. Now the ecological problems pose a host of issues that may not be tackled in the so-called conventional traditional sovereign state model based on a clear division between domestic and international[inter-state] relations; there is now a declining importance of direct force in environmental negotiations.
- In academics as well as in policy arena, there are defenders of the global economy and polity who describe new forms of social actions in terms of legal and political decision –making as indispensable for more inclusive and advanced forms of self government or so-called `advanced liberalism’; while the critics show its limitations, pointing to inadequacies of global responses in environmental protection.
Conflicts in community relations over perception of env/health risks Ecological transformation confronts our everyday life with differentiated and often conflict-filled processes ; As the sources of environmental harm are more ambiguous, community relations can become extremely contentious. Environmental conflicts erupted in specific communities may be divided over their respective perceptions of environmental /health risks; And there may be competing interpretations of potential health effects supported by officials as well as by the scientists.
Nature of conflicts The ambiguity associated with environmental hazards fosters conflict as groups differ in their interpretations of risk. While residents may be confronted with similar environmental conditions, they often use different sets of criteria for making their assessments of environmental harm. Conditions are further complicated by the ‘‘invisibility’’ of environmental hazards, which often render them impossible to detect through the human senses (Beck 1992). Local, state and company officials, along with regulatory agents, often exacerbate the ambiguity by either withholding relevant information or by sending contradictory messages.
Communities are divided over environmental disputes In several instances, studies done by social scientists, it is found that Conflicting interests and competing interpretations of environmental impacts lead to environmental disputes, which often divide residents and contribute to the emergence of contentious factions over different issues and the disintegration of community relations Issues: mining operation, construction of dam and the consequences, pollution and controversy over chemical contamination and health risk etc] Freudenburg and Jones (1991
Community responses and hazard appraisal In some communities, it is found that environmental hazards create a stigma that becomes attached not only to the community, but also to the residents themselves (Edelstein 1993). Some community residents attempt to minimize the stigma associated with environmental hazards, whereas others work to publicize the threat in an effort to have their grievances addressed. Somewhat paradoxically, as residents draw increased attention to local environmental hazards, they contribute to the stigmatization of the community, often further reducing their own property values and threatening community solidarity [ Edelstein 1993].
Distinct themes over harm detection Several distinct themes emerge from the literature over issues involving environmental harms: 1) the emergence of competing groups, 2) the ambiguity of harm, 3) conflicting economic concerns, and 4) variations in attachment to community.
Three generic modes of responses Social action and environmentalism which constitutes the bedrock of environmental movements could broadly be identified in three generic modes (i.e. struggle, publicity and restoration ) .[see Godgil and Guha 1994]. While such activism has characteristically been localized - with most groups working within a district or a region, there has always been links between the micro and macro spheres- between local and global level of representation
Social movement organizations and NGOs as mediators In India, for instance, NGOs/social movement organizations [smo] recently assumed salience not only as translators of national and international law at the local level but also as channels for the assertion of customary collective rights over local commons in national and international fora. Social movement organizations [SMO] as mediators, linking the global with the local movements, Grassroots NGOs have established transnational connections They are an important interface between nation-states, supranational institutions and local communities.
Presentation of the environmental issues For instance, Human rights NGOs present a case for peoples’ rights over natural resources which goes much beyond the highly limited protective approach to displacement outlined in the World Bank policy . And there are important questions about patterns of resource use that may conflict with subsistence rights, namely extraction of raw materials, alterations of ecosystem and reprogramming of organisms, and destabilization such as due to climate change
Environmental justice claims In a global system of `borderless economy’ when patterns of resource use overstretch the resilience of the biosphere and frustrate the balance of the ecosystem, may give rise to demand for environmental justice which constitute three senses of rights for justice: justice as fairness; justice as equitable distribution; and justice as human dignity [see Wolfgang Sachs, 2003]
Justice In the first, it is a question of organized procedures for allocation of advantages and disadvantages that are fair to everyone involved. This is a procedural conception of justice. In the second, it is a question of proportionate distribution of goods and rights among individuals and groups , that is the relational conception of justice. And in the third, it is a question of minimum goods /services or rights necessary for a dignified human existence. This is the absolute substantive conception of justice. In this sense, patterns of resource use that may destabilize the ecosystem and that which may come in conflict with subsistence rights may raise issues of human
Governmental intervention Whether environmental change is rendered governable by advanced liberal government has important implications for the available policy options. Environmental change in a regime of environmentalism is produced by experts as an issue requiring global management, thereby making government interventions look inevitable {Beck 1992}
Governmental interventions Environmental change as framed by experts creates the basis for justifying far-ranging policy interventions and even the extension of state power in the name of ‘survival’ of life on planet Earth; Advanced liberal government, on the other hand, renders climate change governable as an issue of state failure requiring market-based solutions or the creation of markets. The extent to which action is to be taken on climate change is not a moral issue but instead a matter of cost-benefit analysis. If the costs of destruction caused by climate change exceed the costs of preventing it, taking action is legitimate
. Nature-based conflicts[see Godgil and Guha, 1994] Nature-based conflicts have increased in frequency and intensity In India, they mostly revolve around competing claims over forests, land, water and fisheries and so on. These claims have generated a new movement struggling for the rights of victims of ecological degradation. The environmental movement has added a new dimension to Indian democracy and civil society . It also poses an ideological challenge to the dominant notions of the meaning, content and patterns of development.
Politics of dispossession and land related issues involving displacement In land related issues, such as dispossession of land has
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