Sri Lanka is going through the most difficult economic period since its independence in 1948, and has defaulted on its national debt. For some commentators the main problem is easy enough to spot: organic farming, it is even enough for others to suggest that the New Green Deal in the US should be rethought. And yet, the collapse of Sri Lanka’s economy had little to do with organic farming per se, and much more to do with the disastrous handling of its economy. Nonetheless, the banning of inorganic fertilisers, the reasons it was done, and the way it was done, is a cautionary tale of how not to embark on a green transition. It should be a mandatory exercise to review these failures as the developing world looks for a stable path as the climate crisis intensifies.

The first thing to note about Sri Lanka’s decision to ban the import of inorganic fertilisers is that it was based on desperation rather than planning. It is true that President Rajapaksa’s government had promised when it came into power in 2019 that it would shift agriculture to organic farming, but it had announced that it would do so over the period of 10 year, not overnight.

No large scale plan was drawn up, no public discussions with farmers was undertaken, and the people in government pushing the policies included those who came up with locally made syrups to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the end the decision was taken for the simple reason that Sri Lanka was running out of money. The pandemic had hurt the tourist industry, and when the government was elected in 2019, it further cut down taxes, leaving it with money flowing out – much of it for vast infrastructure projects – and little to raise. Between the end of 2020 to March 2021, the country’s foreign exchange reserves plummeted from USD 7.6 billion to less than USD 2 billion. It was because of this huge loss of foreign currency, and the cost of importing inorganic fertiliser which Sri Lanka largely does not manufacture, that the country imposed a ban on it, forcing two-thirds of its population that is dependent on agriculture to suddenly scramble to deal with the fallout.

To make an analogy, this would be the equivalent of India running out of foreign exchange reserves to buy coal from overseas, and shutting down all coal power plants except those that could be run on locally sourced coal.

It would certainly be a – forcible – shift to far more renewable energy, but it would cause blackouts and a huge drop in industrial productivity. To call it a “green transition” would be the same as calling what Sri Lanka did an “organic transition”.

The sad part of all of this is that the country has been experimenting with locally produced organic fertiliser supplemented by processes like Biological Nitrogen Fixation that could have paved the way for a replacement from inorganic fertiliser. This is important not just from a “green” point of view but from a financial sustainability point of view. A locally produced method of fertilisers would have cut down imports without cutting down agricultural productivity. But this would require a plan, soil testing, experimentation on a small scale, and significant buy-in by local farmers before being implemented on a wider scale.

None of this took place. Instead, a whole country was pushed into a deep agricultural crisis, which further wrecked its economy.

The lessons of this crisis for proponents of a green transition are important ones. First and foremost is that – to cover governance failures – authoritarian leaders backed by charlatans see “greenwashing” as a popular way to shift the blame from their failures. Secondly, any transition that is top-down, and ignores science for quick solutions, is likely to be a disaster. Thirdly, a “development” approach that privileges massive infrastructure projects, and then passes off economic and environmental costs to the people without their consultation, will never manage a green transition.

All of these issues are also central to the work of Manshi Asher of the Himdhara collective, with whom we feature the interview below, and whose work highlights how top-down environmental and development projects that ignore local livelihoods are both destructive and massively inefficient.

The Interview

Manshi Asher (left) is a member of Himdhara Collective. As a researcher and activist she has been associated with diverse organisations around social and environmental justice issues. She lives in Kandwari village in the Dhauladhar valley of Himachal Pradesh. She enjoys engaging with feminist political ecologies of life in the mountains.

Q. What does Himdhara do? Why was there a need for it?

Himdhara is a Himachal based environment research and action collective that was formed in 2009. The collective has been working with an environmental justice approach, supporting mountain communities asserting their right to access, use and protect their natural landscapes. The support work itself comprises documentation, dissemination, community dialogues and advocacy. 

The need for such a 'collective' emerged from growing threats posed to mountain ecology and people's nature-based livelihoods by policies and projects of the neoliberal extractive development model and top-down exclusive conservation. Alienation of forest and land dependent people from their resource base began in the colonial era and continued after independence, more evidently in the past few decades and this has led to wide ranging ecological, socio-cultural and economic shifts.  While newer legal provisions were put in place during this time to protect the environment and rights of impacted communities, on one hand access to and just implementation of these has remained a far cry and on the other many of these policies have further alienated marginalised peoples like adivasis, dalits, women. Many of the democratic spaces in environmental decision making have been shrinking, with the push for 'ease of doing business' agenda.

The need thus has been to build a counter narrative by demonstrating the real adverse ecological and socio-economic impacts and costs of such a scenario and also support communities advocating for their livelihoods and their right to govern their resources using democratic spaces and constitutional provisions.

For instance, Himachal has over the last two decades seen various community led movements to raise issues around large-scale hydropower dams and how these have affected local lives and land-use. Himdhara has worked towards building evidence on the oft invisibilised and hidden costs of hydropower projects that are being pushed in the name of clean energy and green growth.

Over the years, as we understood the criticality of secure tenure over land, both for farming and forest uses, we joined the campaign for implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 in the state. In absence of basic information about the provisions of this radical law which guarantees individual and community rights over forest land and is a step towards decolonising forest governance too, we worked on demystifying the legislation by generating basic audio-visual material on it. Currently we are engaged in activating Forest Rights Committees through trainings and dialogues. We also feel the need to dialogue with the youth, which is imperative for any transformative work. One of our programs is an annual workshop called 'Pahar Aur Hum: Rethinking development in the Himalaya' which explores challenges in the Himalayan region with Pahari youth.

Q. How did the collective begin?

Initially we were three or four people from diverse backgrounds passionate about working in the mountains, who decided to pool our skills and perspectives to respond to the needs that came from different communities. We felt that just being located in the region was not sufficient to engage with 'environmental justice' issues and that a deeper interaction with the landscape and community led groups and movements was essential. We continue to function as an informal and autonomous support group driven by a common vision rather than as a formal structured organisation.

Q. What is the key difference between how thinktanks such as Himdhara - which are located in mountain areas - versus those in places like Delhi - see environmental issues?

I would not use the term 'think tank' to describe Himdhara, for several reasons. Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, we are a small collective, a support group with localised engagement, even as we constantly try to understand the bigger picture (national and global) which impacts the local.

Secondly, the term 'think tank' (which has a certain military connotation) in its current usage inherently means that 'knowledge' lies in a few 'thinking' minds and they will draft the policies and laws. That is precisely where the problem lies not just in the way governments work but also in how 'civil society' tends to operate, led by the elite and privileged. It takes away from the agency of people, citizens to be able to plan, decide and demand accountability based on their localised geographies and circumstances, as it should be in a democratic framework. The system then works conveniently to serve the interests of a few.

So, when a group like ours examines 'environmental' issues on the ground we try not to look at them from a 'single' lens and in isolation. We may not be able to address everything but we cannot deny the historical contexts as well as intersections between the political, economic, social justice issues and environmental concerns. Also, our work, especially our research is action oriented, whether it is on Forest Rights or protection of riverine ecosystems. The work is more of a 'process' rather than a 'project', driven by constantly evolving ground observations and dialogue with various actors.

Q. What is the one big question you feel does not get the attention it deserves?

Environmentalism, today is about top-down techno-managerial solutions and quick fixes. The whole 'renewable energy' and 'net zero' being posed as a game changer where as far from addressing the ecological and climate crisis, it is likely to create more inequities and new problems. 'Environment' is a political issue and interwoven with many other issues, like the question of the economy and ownership, distribution, production and consumption of resources. The questions may be complex and daunting requiring multiple long-term strategies but ‘false solutions' need to be identified and resisted. ­­

Critical reading

1. Mega solar park could put Spiti on thin ice: Rebuked by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in 2016 for not tapping into its renewable energy potential, the Himachal Pradesh government rushed to start solar projects, build dams and revive hydropower plans. One of these is an 880-megawatt solar park in Spiti by the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd, a public sector utility jointly owned by the central and the Himachal Pradesh governments. The World Bank-funded project is set to come up on 3,104 hectares of land, spread across six villages, according to information shared under the Right to Information Act. This land includes several pastures used by locals, villagers claim that the park threatens their survival, scientists have warned that the park would end up damaging the habitat of the snow leopard, already classified as “vulnerable” to extinction. The government has made no attempt to carry out an environmental impact assessment, since renewable energy projects in India are exempted from doing so. The pitfalls of the state govt and SJVN officials brazening it out despite lack of consent from local gram sabhas could play out in Spiti and across India, given that many more such mega solar projects are planned.

2. India's forest fires are getting bigger and hotter, like the rest of the world: A recent report by the UN Environmental Programme has stated that the probability of wildfire events similar to Australia’s 2019-2020 Black Summer will increase by 31-57 per cent in the future. If India’s forest fire season this year is any indication, we are already there – there have been fires in Rajasthan’ Sariska Tiger Reserve, Odisha’s Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh’s Ladkui jungles in Sehore district and the forest areas of the Majhgawan region of Satna district and the Perimalmalai Peak near the Kodaikanal hills of Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul district before the end of March, 2022. There were around 340 (by 4 pm) incidences of fires on the last day of March, with 1,141 large forest fires (LFF) continuing for the last seven-eight days according to the Forest Survey of India (FSI). There were 136,604 fire points in the country from January 1 to March 31, 2022.

3. Gujarat, Goa Top New Energy Index – But It Could Be Flawed: According to the NITI Aayog’s ‘State Energy and Climate Index’, developed by the government think-tank, Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab are India’s frontrunner states in improving their energy sectors. However, the index may be flawed. The index is based on secondary data, including the India State of Forests Report, which has already been criticised for its methodological gaps and biased data. The index also gives more weight to the performance of power distribution companies, instead of, as one expert suggested, focusing more on transitioning to renewable energy sources.

4. Sick, Barely Able to Walk –Contaminants in Drinking Water Maiming Villagers of Sonbhadra: Sonbhadra contributes over Rs 21,000 crore to Uttar Pradesh’s coffers annually from mining – a major stakeholder in the country’s growth story, however, its inhabitants are stalked by diseases such as fluorosis, silicosis, cancer, tuberculosis, lung disorders. Fly ash (containing fluoride, arsenic and phosphorous) emanating from Sonbhadra’s nine coal-based thermal power plants has contaminated water, air and soil to an extremely dangerous extent in 269 villages. Doctors in the area acknowledged the problem and confirmed that excessive fluoride in water was causing deformities and paralysis on a large scale in the district. Ram Adhar Patel, an activist and educationist, says “We have already lost this generation to fatal diseases. If the government wants to secure the next generation, it must work on drinking water.”

5. Pahwa Plastics: The Judgement That Endangers India's Environmental Jurisprudence: Two recent Supreme Court judgements about industrial units breaking the legal requirement of prior environmental clearance, rely upon the questionable legality of post facto clearances. The Pahwa Plastics judgement, and the 2021 Supreme Court judgement it draws from, i.e., the case of Electrosteels Steel Ltd., are both authored by Justice Indira Banerjee, and both problematic for their treatment of environmental clearances and their tendency to limit environmental issues to pollution. The court’s conclusion that the implicated industries not obtaining prior approval as required under the law is a ‘technical irregularity’ even if the unit pollutes the environment, implies that compliance with environmental law is discretionary, not mandatory. Further, environmental law is not only about pollution: it is about where industrial units are located, their cumulative impact, the carrying capacity of their environment and, importantly, the views and concerns of the affected people.

6. TRIBAL FILES: Thousands Displaced by Salwa Judum Urge Centre to Rehabilitate Them: Due to police harassment and Naxal violence in 2004-05, and largely as a result of the government’s Salwa Judum movement, as many as 55,000 members of tribal communities had to leave Chhattisgarh and go to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, where they have been living on the edges of forests and are mostly engaged in farming and animal husbandry. They do not have the benefit of reservation or facilities like job cards, ration cards, health insurance cards etc. Their situation deteriorated during the pandemic, as during the last two years the Telangana government (a majority of them live in the Dandakaranya forests, part of Telangana) started taking possession of lands of the Salwa Judum victims, managing to occupy almost half of their land. They are caught in an extremely precarious position as they are constantly asked to go back to Chhattisgarh, where they don’t feel a sense of security. Under the banner of Valsa Adivasulu Samakhya, an organisation of displaced people, members of the community recently came to Delhi to protest and urge the central and state governments to rehabilitate them and grant them the land rights they are legally entitled to.

7. India Will Miss Its 2022 Solar Power Target: Report: India promised to install 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2022. But the country will not be able to deliver on this climate pledge. According to a new report prepared by JMK Research and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), India will miss this target by 27%, primarily due to insufficient rooftop solar installations in the country. The report estimates that there will be a shortfall of 25 GW from the 40 GW rooftop solar target, and 1.8 GW from the 60 GW utility-scale solar target – indicating the need for a concerted effort towards expanding rooftop solar. Despite the PM’s many statements affirming India’s renewable energy capacity, the fact that India’s rooftop solar sector is ailing comes as no surprise to some experts. While rooftop solar has significant potential in India, the sector has lagged behind due to many factors including a focus on mega solar power projects. The report cites several reasons for the shortfall, including regulatory roadblocks, net metering limits, unsigned power supply agreements, financing issues and restrictions on power banking.

8. Manipur's push for dams threatens local ecology and communities: Following the union government’s drive for large hydropower projects as renewable energy sources leading to a prospective boom in building large dams across the country; in 2020, the Manipur state government decided to push for large hydropower projects. Dams that were expected to usher development in Manipur have caused more damage than gains, alleges the residents of villages around operational, incomplete, and failed dams. Due to such projects, villages upstream of barrages have lost farmlands and forest resources, while those downstream have faced water crisis, economic stress and increased hardships. The state’s ecologically significant Loktak lake and the people living around it for centuries have undergone significant changes impacting local ecology and livelihood.

9. In Tamil Nadu, Wildlife Protection Has Gone Too Far: On March 17, 2022, the Madras high court banned cattle-grazing inside tiger reserves, sanctuaries and national parks throughout Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu has been slow to accord community and individual rights under the FRA, and the court has now taken away gram sabhas’ authority to regulate cattle-grazing. There is effectively a near-total ban on grazing in all forests across Tamil Nadu – even as the forest department continues to collect fees for grant of grazing permits, earning a sizeable revenue. The verdict has been described as rewriting the provisions of two major laws that the Parliament had enacted in 2006 – both of which were designed to protect, preserve, conserve and manage forests, wildlife and biodiversity.