ABSTRACT
Environmental movements in the Third World are a relatively recent phenomenon. They should be seen, not as concerned purely with environmental issues, but as manifestations of wider, usually, political concerns. Such movements tend to attract the unempowered – those without the means to address their concerns in more conventional ways. Movements in India, Kenya, Indonesia, Tahiti and Nigeria are examined in the search for factors that explain their success or failure. If most were not, in the short term, successful, they have nevertheless helped to place environmental concerns on the political agenda of many countries in the Third World.
