Women protestors from the islands in Kochi: environmental justice in South Asia.

The island cluster in the South Indian 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 mobilised themselves against development projects which threatened their livelihood and marine ecology. One such protest against the Liquefied 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, sustained 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 marginalised communities, including shore communities, to deliberate about locally nuanced and relevant development for sustainable eco-futures in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]