Environmentalism at whose cost? - Thoughts from a year ago.

A year ago, I left my field site in Sumatra, Indonesia with a rather dreary conclusion. It was one that was feed for many presentations, seminars, group discussions with my students who, already dreary from their bi-weekly dose of international conservation, could only think about why the minute hand wouldn't move faster. All talk... every time... let to an unresolved-dilemma, a large question mark on the concluding slide of each presentation... What should one do? Will it be too late?

Sept. 14, 2005 -- Being a tree hugger has been, and I’m sure will continue to be, a very interesting experience. An experience spattered with realizations both big and small. This summer out in the jungles of Sumatra led me to do some thinking about the environmentalist agenda that is in such stark contrast *sometimes* with what is real and what is feasible. You know how the stereotypical environmentalist is all about saving nature from the ravages of humankind? Yeah.. that can be quite a naïve stance. Not all people are greedy uber-capitalists driven solely by profit, whose primary objectives are to extract and over-extract the earth’s resources. A huge portion of the Earth’s population is poor and rural. And a large portion of those communities interact closely and sustainably with a wide array of ecosystems including forests and wetlands. At least till now they have. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is a phenomenon that is true in many nations of the developing world and my experience is one limited to Indonesia. Hence I will not claim to pass judgment on any other scenario.

Picture this: A farmer in a village. He has been cultivating rubber trees in his 2 hectare agroforest for the past several decades. Not just rubber trees, he grows a variety of fruit trees and his agroforest contains several natural species too. In this way he has created in his backyard, essentially a mini natural forest that is home to several wild animals and birds and also is a source of income and food for him and his family. However, it is not enough anymore. The price of rubber has fallen and he is not making enough money to meet his family’s needs. He would much rather, cut all other trees down in his agroforest and grow just rubber. Or cut everything down and only grow oil-palms, plantation style, which fetch a much higher price. But, then he will be doing away with the “eco-friendliness” of his plot. His plot will not be a mini forest anymore and will not be home to wild animals anymore. *Poof* appears the environmental and ecosystem minded extension agent, talking to the farmer about the importance of biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and how monoculture plantations are bad and semi-natural agroforests like his are extra good for the planet.

What right do I have to tell him to keep his plot as it is now in the name of the environment? How can I ask him to forego a better livelihood for himself and his family, because it makes me and others like myself, who have comfortable enough lifestyles and thus the luxury of being environmentalists, feel good about what we do and what we work for? The environmentalist agenda, through its several avatars over the last 100 or so years, has largely established a barrier between nature and humans. The sweeping sentiment has been “Save nature from humans”.

All this while tree huggers and social-development people were following separate, detached, almost mutually exclusive schemas. But here is a prime example of a situation where the two cannot be teased apart. The lifeline of both the environment and the people living in it are intricately braided together. And now, environmentalists are finding themselves trying to learn ways of getting through to poor people, in order to understand their minds because it has struck them how these same people control the fate of the environment.

But by the time, a concrete, coherent and collaborative plan develops and work finally evolves further from discussions and visits.... it might be too late. There might not be anything left to save. And all that will remain are rows and rows of oil palm as far as the eyes can see.