Abstract

Since the 1970s, participatory ecological movements have emerged in India, eager and very determined to challenge the dominant paradigm of an economic development based on the unlimited exploitation of natural resources. Now that new and pressing challenges prompt Indian leaders to rethink the relationship between the human community and resources, the limits of grassroots movements are becoming obvious in overcoming the local dimension and in imposing a new agenda in the debate on environmental issues and policies that threaten ecosystems and communities