| This dissertation examines the evolution of forests, its effects on regional development, and the emergence of environmental movements in the Garhwal Himalayas of northern India. The research is guided by two questions: first, what were the social and economic transformations that led to the emergence of the well-known environmental movement--Chipko--twenty years ago; second, how have the new environmental regulations and policies developed in the wake of Chipko's successes affected Garhwal's regional economy and society?;The dissertation addresses the debates on sustainable development and environmental degradation in the Himalayas by arguing that while demographic and ecological studies are useful for specifying the limits of natural forces of production in the region, they are incapable of providing the theoretical framework necessary to analyze the changes that affect the region's economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Using archival data, quantitative analysis, newspaper research, and field interviews, the dissertation examines the complex processes that have subjected issues of regional sustainability to changing definitions and perceptions regarding the value of natural resources, geopolitical strategies, trade, and the position of the region with regard to the direction of national economic development in India. The dissertation illustrates how Garhwal's journey towards backwardness and marginalization was accelerated partly by contingent events that weakened the regional economy, and also through the process of increasing regulation of forest-based extraction. Despite brief periods during which local elites succeeded in effectively monopolizing extraction in areas not controlled by the Forest Department, the forestry sector in Garhwal evolved by pushing out a large proportion of households that were involved in forest-based extractive activities. Describing the emergence of the Chipko movement in the early seventies, it shows how environmental laws--developed in response to the demands made by Chipko's leaders--have increased the central government's authority over forests at the expense of the Forest Department, and consequently weakened the viability of the forestry sector in Garhwal. In the absence of alternative economic opportunities, local households have been reduced to depend on the only remaining options--subsistence agriculture, migration to other areas for employment, and illegal extraction of forest produce. |
