Women protestors from the islands in Kochi: Environmental justice in South Asia

The island cluster in the Southwestern port city of Kochi has been the site of immense development activities since the 2000s. Thickly populated by shore communities and other caste-oppressed groups, the islanders struggled and mobilized themselves against development projects which threatened their livelihood and marine ecology. One such protest against a potentially life-threatening Liquified Petroleum Gas terminal of the Indian Oil Corporation in Puthuvype, a scenic island off the Arabian sea, went on for over a decade. The protestors, including large numbers of women, continued their struggle despite the state repression in various forms and thereby inserted the need for environmentally and locally conscious development as a necessary step towards social justice. An analysis of this protest signposts the need to acknowledge environmental injustice towards marginalized communities, including shore communities, to deliberate about locally nuanced and relevant development for sustainable eco-futures in South Asia. Shore communities were historically dependent on sea resources for their living and were deprived of opportunities for social mobility due to their historically oppressed status in caste hierarchy. Active mobilization by women in this protest is a reminder of the crucial role of nature-dependent communities and their women in sustaining marine balance and thereby contributing to decolonizing the water world which is the site of unplanned and centralized development of the colonial and postcolonial states in South Asia.