chipko

Chipko movement, also known as Chipko Andolan, was a nonviolent environmental movement in India that began in the early 1970s in the Garhwal region of present-day Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh). Its central aim was forest conservation and the protection of the rights of local communities to use forest resources, particularly against commercial logging and tree felling.

The movement is best known for its practice of hugging trees to physically prevent loggers from cutting them down, a form of nonviolent civil disobedience. It spread through villages in the Chamoli and other districts, led and organized by local women, with support from environmental and social activists. Key figures associated with Chipko include Chandi Prasad Bhatt, who had earlier founded the Dasholi Samiti to protect forests, and Sunderlal Bahuguna, a prominent advocate of ecological reform and sustainable forestry.

Chipko contributed to a shift in Indian forest policy by drawing attention to community-based forest management and environmental protection. It influenced later policy debates and, in several regions, contributed to reforms aimed at restricting commercial logging and promoting participatory forest governance. The movement also inspired the Appiko movement in Karnataka and similar campaigns elsewhere.

Assessments note that while Chipko helped raise awareness and sparked policy dialogue, forest pressures and development demands continued, and the movement did not, by itself, halt all commercial logging. Nonetheless, it remains a landmark example of grassroots environmental action and the involvement of women in ecological movements.