Solution: The role of communities and women in protecting and conserving forests has been significant.

(i) The Chipko Movement

In 1974, the ladies of the hamlet in the Garhwal region of the Himalayas initiated a movement to stop contractors from felling forest trees. By embracing them, they were able to do so.

(ii) Case study of the Bishnoi community

The Bishnoi group in Rajasthan sticks to a fundamental belief in peaceful coexistence with nature. In 1731, the King of Jodhpur ordered his ministers to organize wood for the construction of his new palace, and the King and his people went to a Bishnoi village where a Bishnoi woman named Amrita Devi, along with her daughter and hundreds of other Bishnois, stood up and stopped them from chopping trees. They embraced the trees, eventually succumbing to soldiers’ bullets. The peasants’ quarrel prompted the King to abandon his plan to chop down trees.