How did the Women of Champavat Lead a Silent Revolution of Saving the Forest (Van Saheli)

In the Manar village of the Champavat district in Uttarakhand, women were spending an estimated 800 hours a year collecting water and firewood before the forest cover began to thin. With 50,000 hectares of forest lost across the state, that journey only grew longer. For women managing fields, households, and childcare simultaneously, time was as much a resource as water or land, and its depletion affected all areas of their lives.

Bhagirathi Devi, known in Manar as “Van Amma”, organised the village’s Van Panchayat to restore 11.6 hectares of degraded forest. Their collective sustained labour included clearing weeds, building check dams, planting indigenous grass varieties and tree saplings, fencing the forest using branches, and removing invasive species. Pandanus and wild roses were planted to protect saplings from grazing animals. As the forest cover increased, the groundwater recharged and spring water flow increased too, reducing the number of hours women spent fetching water and fuel. While the restoration and conservation efforts of the Van Panchayat in Manar are exemplary, it also illustrates how women’s agricultural labour can extend to the care of commons, with the two being intricately linked. When the agricultural infrastructure provided by the forest, spring, and groundwater stabilises, Manar’s women admit to being able to work their fields better.