Chhattisgarh activist Alok Shukla to receive Goldman Prize for Hasdeo Arand movement

“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. 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,” said a statement from the Goldman Environmental Prize on Monday.

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Also Read:Hasdeo mines: An explainer

In 2009, the environment ministry categorised Hasdeo Arand to be a “No-Go” zone for mining due to its rich forest cover but opened it again to mining as the policy was not finalised.

The CBA continued to work with tribal communities to demand and push the government to make Hasdeo Arand mining free.

After strong resistance from local communities, the Chhattisgarh Assembly passed a unanimous resolution in July 2022 to designate nearly 1700 sq km expanse of Hasdeo forests as mining free.

In October 2022, the Chhattisgarh government notified Lemru Elephant Reserve in an area covering 450 sq km.

The state government was pushed to notify Lemru following a massive foot march involving over 2,000 villagers from ten villages demanding that the government protect Hasdeo Arand.

Shukla has closely worked with local communities in Hasdeo to put across their demands and views in public especially when there was a lot of pressure from the Centre and large mining corporations to divert these forests and open up the area for coal mining.

“It came as a big surprise to me. I was not expecting any award and was busy with the movement’s work. This is an international recognition for the Hasdeo movement and people of Hasdeo. I was not aware that some process of selection for the award was going on. When I was told that it’s the same award that went to Prafulla Samantara who led the struggle for indigenous Dongria Kondh’s land rights and protected the Niyamgiri Hills, it’s the Green Nobel, I thought it was probably a prank,” said Shukla, days before the award was formally announced.

In October 2020, Shukla 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.

Sustained community protest led the government to withdraw three mines from public auction in September 2020, and, after a 10-day, 166-mile protest march to the state capital of Raipur in October 2021 alongside 500 villagers, an additional 14 mines were cancelled.

With the notification of the Lemru Elephant Reserve, 17 of 23 coal blocks in Hasdeo are now within it and are protected to an extent.

“In 2022, the Chhattisgarh assembly decided that there should be no coal blocks in Hasdeo. The state government also gave an affidavit in SC that apart from the ongoing mining in PEKB, no other mine needs to be opened up. Accordingly, the coal ministry had denotified over 40 new coal blocks having about 10% of reserve in Chhattisgarh. This was a big achievement for us,” said Shukla.

”It is also true that when Lemru elephant reserve was notified, three important blocks including Parsa; Parsa East and Kente Basan and Kete Extension and Tara were exempted and hence allowed to be mined,” added Shukla.

HT reported on June 30, 2023 that since October 2021, when the Chhattisgarh government gave its final nod to the five million tonnes per annum capacity Parsa coal mine, there has been an unofficial stay on mining as the village residents of Hariharpur, Salhi and Fatehpur in Hasdeo say they never consented to the diversion of 841 hectares (ha) of forest land for it — an essential step in the process before mining permissions in forest land can be granted.

Another mine in Hasdeo Arand, the Parsa East Kete Basan (PEKB) is also under the scanner, as a case is pending in the Supreme Court, which has challenged mining in the region due to its impact on the fragile ecology and biodiversity of the forests.

“In December last year, a lot of trees were cut for PEKB. Indefinite protests by local people have been going on in Parsa for over 800 days now. Our protest site was also set on fire recently. We are demanding that even the Parsa coal block be cancelled as it is in a very important area that is significant to local people. Our movement will continue until the entire Hasdeo region is protected and conserved. We are trying to take forest rights recognition forward in these areas so that people are empowered,” added Shukla.

After his post graduation in 2004, Shukla joined various grassroots movements related to river privatisation and pollution in Chhattisgarh.

“For the last two decades, I have been mainly focused on the rights of forest dwellers on land, forests and water bodies. In 2010, we established Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan. When I was called by local leaders, I visited Hasdeo for the first time in June 2011 and that changed my view about the area. I had never seen such beauty, such abundance, a river was also flowing through it. I also realised that this forest provided water for irrigation, if this was gone, our villagers would be devastated,” Shukla said in an interview to HT.

“People were also unaware. They did not know about the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) or Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA) and thought if the government wished they could take away all of their forest resources,” added Shukla.

“If it were only the government you can still fight but with big corporations it’s a different story altogether. In Hasdeo, both the government and corporations are standing together against you. The most powerful companies have Mine Developer and Operator (MDOs) here. The Centre wants to extract coal from here at any cost. So obviously you will be threatened, and your life will be at risk. They will try all kinds of things like try to bribe you, threaten you, file false cases against you. Now a new method is to defame you or make fake posts on social media about you,” Shukla said.

Shukla said he owes most of his success to his family — his father who is from a farming background and his wife who works in the public health sector.

The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in 1989 by late San Francisco civic leaders and philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman. Prize winners are selected by an international jury from confidential nominations submitted by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals.

The Goldman Environmental Foundation announced seven recipients of the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s foremost award for grassroots environmental activists on Monday.

Other awardees include Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu, South Africa.

In September 2022, the two indigenous activists stopped destructive seismic testing for oil and gas off South Africa’s Eastern Cape, in an area known as the Wild Coast.

Teresa Vicente from Spain led a historic, grassroots campaign to save the Mar Menor ecosystem—Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon—from collapse, resulting in the passage of a new law in September 2022 granting the lagoon unique legal rights.

Murrawah Maroochy Johnson from Australia blocked development of the Waratah coal mine, which would have accelerated climate change in Queensland, destroyed the nearly 20,000-acre Bimblebox Nature Refuge.

Andrea Vidaurre’s (from USA) grassroots leadership persuaded the California Air Resources Board to adopt, in the spring of 2023, two historic transportation regulations that significantly limit trucking and rail emissions. Marcel Gomes from Brazil coordinated a complex, international campaign that directly linked beef from JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, to illegal deforestation in Brazil’s most threatened ecosystems.