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Context:

• Alok Shukla, convenor of the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan and founding member of the Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, has been awarded the 2024 Goldman Prize from Asia.

Details:

• The Goldman Environmental Foundation, which gives away the prize, recognized that 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”.

Background and How Alok Shukla’s Works led to saving of Hasdeo forest:

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, had declared Hasdeo a “no-go” zone in recognition of its vast biodiversity in 2010 but the declaration was never formalised into law and successive governments have attempted to jumpstart mining operations.
• Between 2011 and 2015, India’s Adani Enterprises—a powerful multinational mining corporation—received permission to develop five coal mines in the forests.
• Alok first learned about plans to auction coal blocks in Hasdeo’s forests in late 2011. He realized that the affected communities had little information about the mining process or awareness of their existing legal rights and began advising them on potential legal strategies and tactics.
• He brought all stakeholders in the struggle to save Hasdeo on a common platform in 2012 when the Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti was founded which protested
• Protests by locals stalled the process of coal block auctions in June 2020. In December of that year, the Centre invoked emergency provisions to move 21 coal blocks forward.
• Shukla organized villagers that year, when the COVID-19 lockdown was in place, to protest against the 21 proposed coal mines.
• In October 2020, he led local villagers to lobby the village legislative councils to designate 945,000 acres as the Lemru elephant reserve, protecting the elephant corridor and its boundaries from planned coal mines.
• Three mines were withdrawn from public auction in September 2020, in the face of sustained protests by locals in the area.
• In July 2022, the government canceled 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.
• Alok Shukla led a successful community campaign that saved 445,000 acres of biodiversity-rich forests from 21 planned coal mines in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

About Hasdeo Forest:

• Hasdeo spread across 657 square miles, is one of India’s most extensive contiguous forest tracts.
• “The ancient forests provide a critical tiger corridor linking neighboring sanctuaries and habitat for approximately 50 endangered Asian elephants.
• They are also home to 25 endangered species, including leopards, sloth bears, grey wolves, and striped hyenas; 92 bird species, such as white-eyed buzzard; and 167 rare and medicinal plant species.
• Hasdeo’s forests are also a catchment area for the Hasdeo river, a tributary of the Mahanadi.
• The river serves as the watershed for the Hasdeo Bango reservoir, irrigating 741,000 acres of farmland.
• The state of Chhattisgarh, 44 percent 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.
• Hasdeo Aranya sits on top of one of India’s largest coal reserves—some 5.6 billion tons.

About the Goldman Environmental Prize

• The Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded by the Goldman Environmental Foundation. The Prize was founded by Richard and Rhonda Goldman in 1989.
• It recognizes grassroots environmental leaders from six regions — Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South and Central America and lastly, islands and island nations. The winners are selected by an international jury and awarded $200,000 as prize money.

Source:

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/forests/alok-shukla-wins-goldman-prize-or-green-nobel-for-hasdeo-aranya-campaign-95874

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