Sameerkankali - Sameer Kankali Ⓥ ☮

Courage demonstrated by villagers in India’s Mahan forest is helping to protect the forest from devastating coal mine development.

The Mahan forest provides a livelihood to more 50,000 villagers from 54 villages. For several years, the forest has been threatened by a coal mine proposed by the Mahan Coal Ltd. Community members from several villages in India’s Mahan forest banded together as the Mahan Sangharsh Samiti (MSS) in a series of protests that put them between mine developers and the trees.

Villagers prevented officials from marking the trees as boundaries to their new coal mining project. Perhaps surprising company and government officials, villagers asserted their right to protect the Mahan under the Forest Rights Act. Local resistance grew with more and more protests and rallies that placed members of the MSS between coal mining officials and the trees.

In 2014, members of MSS found themselves celebrating. The Mahan forest was deemed off limits to coal mining at the recommendation of the Indian Environment Ministry,

“The government has finally accepted that this forest, which gives thousands of us so much, must not be destroyed for the profit of a few. We will continue to fight for the recognition of our community rights over the forest, so that we never again face such a threat to our livelihoods. This is not the end of our struggle; it is the start of a new phase,” said a member of MSS.

The fight to protect the forest continues on as on only parts of the Mahan forest were protected.

Read more about the Mahan forest and the communities that are fighting to protect it.

Photos by Greenpeace.