In memory of tree huggers
Sunday, December 07, 2008

Jason Tutau with a tree hugger at Thurston Gardens
In 1973, women from the Chamoli district in the Uttaranchal region of India left their homes and in groups, hugged trees that were to be felled.
The movement became known as Chipko which literally means "to stick" in Hindustani.
These female peasants defied societal norms to ensure the preservation of their traditional forest rights that were threatened by the contractor system of the state Forest Department.
This demonstration of people power and the strength of its successes spread throughout the Uttaranchal Himalayas by the end of the decade.
In Tehri district, Chipko activists would go on to protest limestone mining in the Dehra Dun hills in the 1980s as well as the Tehri dam.
Then the Beej Bachao Andolan or Save the Seeds movement was founded from this activism that continues to the present day.
As the backbone of Uttaranchal's agrarian economy, women were most directly affected by environmental degradation and deforestation and their daily chores meant they connected issues that could arise from such environment degradation, easily.
They wanted to make sure their forest remain for its gifts - its herbal medicine and firewood to name just two.
And now you can seethe application of the concept as one of the main features of the Wasawasa Festival of Arts that's given an injection of life to Thurston Gardens this week.
When making the rounds at this inaugural festival of oceans, one will not miss the tree-huggers - not human beings but a masterful creation of a 'woman' made of twigs and vines: this version of tree hugging in a success story from the coastal province of Nadroga.
"Nadroga Navosa Provincial Secondary School is part of our environment program and as borders, visits to the sand dunes is organised some weekends and they help us create tree huggers," National Heritage officer and sand dunes park manager Jason Tutau said.
"Through the tree hugging exercise, we explain the concept and how it all started. The underlying message is obviously about our environment, our trees and so on and how we have a responsibility towards them."
The concept has been effective, he says, in terms of the response of children.
As an awareness creation tool, it is also a unique way of getting the conservation story through. The fact that it is as environment-friendly as it can be helps as well. Most of the mahogany trees at the sand dunes park in Sigatoka now have a tree-hugger each thanks to the collaborative effort of the Nadroga Navosa Provincial Secondary School and the National Heritage department.
The interactive approach of the festival means that you as a member of the public can be part of this exercise between 10 and midday.
You can also dabble in KalamWasa - the ocean of ink writing aspect of the festival - but that, as they say, is another story.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=108291