Nature or environment has, time and again, been referred to women. Nature has gone through a paradigm shift under the aegis of human ignorance and irresponsible behaviour. Two of the largest movements that the world has witnessed are ‘Women Empowerment and Global Warming’ which if get interconnected, has the power to change. Women, in the society, many times acted as a catalyst correcting the fallacies which are strongly manifested in the field of the environment too.
Few women who have left a mark in the biodiversity movements in India have been engraved in this piece of a write-up to salute them and their contribution to the ‘World Environment Day’.
Medha Patkar – Born in Mumbai, Medha Patkar has been dynamic in bringing a change in the environmental process in India by starting ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ to fight for the justice of the dam project-affected people. She has also been associated with a number of other movements. She mobilised massive marches and peaceful protests against the construction of India’s Sardar Sarovar Dam, which displaced thousands of tribal peoples and submerged vast stretches of forests and farmland. She has won the Goldman Prize for Asia in 1992.
Sunita Narain – An Indian environmentalist and political activist as well as a major proponent of the Green concept of sustainable development, Sunita is also the Director of Centre for Science and Environment and editor of the fortnightly magazine ‘Down to Earth’. In 1985 she co-edited the State of India’s Environment report, and then went on to study issues related to forest management.
Purnima Barman – Purnima, is from Assam, has mobilised followers into the ‘Hargila Army’, an all-female team of conservationists dedicated to protecting the greater adjutant stork which, through this programme, are offered sustainable livelihood, training and education opportunities. The project is giving marginalised women a voice. Together they are changing local perceptions and numbers of stork nests have risen from 30 seven years ago to over 150 today.
Vandana Shiva – An Indian scholar, environmental activist and anti-globalization author Shiva, currently based in Delhi, has authored more than twenty books. In 1991, she started her organisation ‘NAVDANYA’. Recognised as an ‘Environmental Hero‘ by Time magazine in 2003, Vandana worked to promote biodiversity in the field of agriculture.
Shangnaidar Tontang – A resident of Manipur, Tontang has led the disaster management and rehabilitation work in the aftermath of the floods and landslides that hit Chandel district of Manipur. Although Tontang, who runs the NGO, Weaker Sections Development Council (WSDC), was already working at the grassroots level with women on livelihood issues.
Saalumarada Thimmakka – A 105-year-old environmentalist has been enlisted to the Top 100 influential women by BBC in 2016. She has planted as many as 384 odd banyan trees along a four-kilometre stretch of highway between Hulikal and Kudur. She has been awarded the National Citizen’s Award in India.
Sugathakumari – A poet and environmentalist, Sugathakumari have dedicated most of her writings to Mother Nature. She has been at the forefront of environmental and feminist movements in Kerala, South India. Prakriti Samrakshana Samithi was founded by her who also participated in the ‘Save Silent Valley’ protest, a social movement aimed at the protection of Silent Valley, an evergreen tropical forest in the Palakkad district of Kerala.
Bano Haralu – Known as the ‘Falcon of the World’, a journalist turned conservationist Bano along with her two colleagues unveiled the rapid decline of the Falcons, which were a vital factor for the agriculture as they preyed on the termites that would otherwise destroy the crops, by busting the Falcon scam of being hunted and sold in the local markets.
Radha Bhatt – Actively formulating in the Uttarakhand Nadi Bachao Abhiyan in 2008 to oppose the construction of a series of hydel power projects that not only threatened the flow of the Ganga and most of its tributaries but imperilled the fragile, heavily deforested ecosystem of the Himalayan state, Radha Bhatt led 2000 kilometres march to voice for people’s water rights.
Nalini Sekhar – The co-founder of Kach Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP), a union of waste-pickers and award-winning Bangalore-based Hasiru Dala (Green Force), a social enterprise dedicated to improving the livelihoods of waste pickers, advocating for their rights and social security by integrating informal sector waste workers into the formal solid waste management machinery, Nalini Sekhar has over 7,500 waste pickers as members who have been empowered with municipal identity cards and improved working conditions.
These are just a few names who have contributed to the environment in their own ways. Being women the contribution calls for a dual celebration as the Mother nurtures the Mother Nature and what can be beautiful than this. Come forward and be a catalyst in improving the environment that is degraded by the human species only to remain ignorant and wait for the wrath of the Earth to bestow on us as we stay helplessly numb. Better late than never, join the mission to reverse the damage. Happy World Environment Day!
P.S.: All the photographs of the women environmentalists are taken from Google Images.
