ABSTRACT
This chapter raises a fundamental question of defining development alternative as urgent amidst worsening social and ecological crisis. Communities across Asia tend to reject neoliberal development model that is rooted in expropriation of peoples’ land and resources that led to multiple crisis. Peoples’ movements across Asia have long called to rethink the neoliberal development order for an alternative development discourse rooted in upholding peoples’ rights and respect of nature. Indigenous peoples always offered alternatives rooted in their age-old wisdom of caring their land and peoples across generations. Development alternatives need recognizing communities’ rights and role in sustainable ecological management. Alternatives entail instituting genuine democratic process rooted in rightful peoples’ participation in all decision making and ending repressive measures.
