Dangers of Environmental Extremism-Analysis of Debate over India's Social Forestry Programme

Analysis of Debate over India's Social Forestry Programme Michael Burgess The recent growth in concern for the environmental problems of developing countries is a welcome develop- ment However, the emotional commitment of environmentalists to protecting the environment has not been matched by their understanding of the complexities of the issues involved. An example of this is the way in which they greatly exaggerated the detrimental effects of India's social forestry programme, while ignoring its positive aspects. All too often, in movements for social change, concern over issues degenerates into rigid ideological beliefs. In this paper it is argued that environmentalists have fallen into the same trap