ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on a comparative analysis of social movements against renewable projects located next to conservation spaces across India. The undermining of conservation in protected areas due to large-scale development projects has received much attention. Large hydropower projects in India have a long history of being opposed on accounts of predatory land acquisition, submergence and the resultant loss of livelihoods. India has followed the exclusionary model of conservation by setting aside large spaces devoid of human pressures for biodiversity protection. The chapter presents the mobilisation around the conservation discourse across the three case studies. These case studies are: Karnataka; Maharashtra; and Himachal Pradesh. It shows how the local opposition to renewable projects is dynamic and influenced by the broader politics of environment and development, which has itself evolved over time. Locally grounded social movements are nested within and influenced by the broader politics of environment versus development.
