大象传媒

In the early 1970s, village women in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas resisted deforestation by literally hugging the trees that loggers came to chop down. These original tree-huggers became known as the Chipko movement, from the Hindi word meaning 鈥渢o embrace鈥�.

At the heart of the movement was the Gandhi-inspired activist Sunderlal Bahuguna, who spread Chipko鈥檚 message of forest conservation by undertaking an almost 5,000km foot march across the Himalayas. In 1981, Bahuguna successfully persuaded India鈥檚 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to ban the felling of all trees in the region above an altitude of 1,000 metres.

The Chipko movement inspired similar tree-hugging movements around the world, from Switzerland to the USA. In the 1990s, Bahuguna campaigned against the construction of India鈥檚 tallest dam in the state of Uttarakhand 鈥� this time without success.

The environmental activist Vandana Shiva, herself an early volunteer with the Chipko movement, assesses Bahuguna鈥檚 legacy. She considers what his campaign against Tehri Dam teaches about what happens when environmental activism fails.

鈥淏ahuguna was a natural politician,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e pioneered the use of non-violent tactics 鈥� including marches, fasts and roadblocks 鈥� to draw attention to environmental issues.鈥�

Producer: Dan Hardoon
Series Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production in association with The Open University.