Recognising grassroots environmental leaders

Renowned Indian environment and forest activist Alok Shukla has been awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. Shukla has been recognised and honoured for his successful community campaign that saved 445,000 acres of biodiversity-rich forests from 21 planned coal mines in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize winners are grassroots environmental leaders who prove that ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact on the planet, as the Prize’s website highlights. In the Prize’s announcement, we meet Alok Shukla, 43, who is a convenor with Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (the Save Chhattisgarh Movement), an informal alliance of grassroots movements across Chhattisgarh. The alliance is member-driven, without any paid employees. Shukla is also a founding member of the Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (Save Hasdeo Aranya Resistance Committee), a grassroots movement uniting forest-dwelling villagers across the region.

Growing up in the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh, Shukla witnessed the profound environmental and social devastation wrought by extractive industries. Acutely aware of unsustainable resource extraction, he decided to dedicate his life to protecting the water, forests, and land of central India, as well as supporting Adivasi tribes, which are the traditional stewards of the land. Spread across 657 square miles, the dense, biodiverse Hasdeo Aranya forests form one of India’s most extensive contiguous forest tracts. The ancient forests provide a critical tiger corridor linking neighbouring sanctuaries and habitat for approximately 50 endangered Asian elephants. They are also home to 25 endangered species, including leopards, sloth bears, grey wolves, striped hyenas; 92 bird species, such as white-eyed buzzard; and 167 rare and medicinal plant species. The forests are also a catchment area for the Hasdeo River, which flows into the Mahanadi River and serves as the watershed for the Hasdeo Bango reservoir, irrigating 741,000 acres of farmland. The state of Chhattisgarh, 44% of which is forested, has India’s third largest concentration of forests. Additionally, nearly 15,000 Adivasi (Indigenous peoples) depend on the Hasdeo Aranya forests for their livelihood, cultural identity, and sustenance.

In July 2022, the government cancelled the 21 proposed coal mines in Hasdeo Aranya, whose pristine forests – popularly known as the lungs of Chhattisgarh — are one of the largest intact forest areas in India. Meanwhile, the region contains one of India’s largest coal reserves – some 5.6 billion tons, located just beneath the Hasdeo forests. Today, India is the world’s second largest coal consumer and producer, with 761 million tons generated in 2022-2023, providing nearly 70% of the country’s electricity. More than 21% of India’s coal comes from Chhattisgarh. In 2010, India’s environment ministry declared the Hasdeo Aranya forests a “no-go” zone in recognition of their vast biodiversity

Previous Adivasi opposition to mining projects was somewhat disorganised and, as a result, two mines were brought online around 2010. Shukla’s leadership had brought villages and local communities together in a unified movement that emerged in 2012 with the creation of the Save Hasdeo Aranya Resistance Committee. He garnered widespread support on social media and digital platforms by using the hashtag #SaveHasdeo. The campaign inspired creative acts around the country, including bike rallies and couples using the hashtag in their wedding invitations.

Shukla’s adept organising of local communities and sustained strategy led the state government to cancel 21 coal blocks by July 2022, preserving the unfragmented, biodiverse Hasdeo Aranya forests from destruction by some of India’s most powerful corporations. Determined to save the lungs of Chhattisgarh from destruction, the Hasdeo movement’s ability to successfully influence policy has made it a model for environmental justice in India and generated an unprecedented amount of national and regional solidarity.

The Goldman Environmental Prize recognises grassroots environmental heroes from roughly the world’s six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands & Island Nations, North America and South and Central America. The Prize recognises individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. The Goldman Prize views “grassroots” leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation. Through recognising these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.