Editing Environmental movement (section)

==== Conservation movements in India and Burma during Colonial times ====
The modern conservation movement was manifested in the forests of [[India]], with the practical application of scientific conservation principles. The [[conservation ethic]] that began to evolve included three core principles: human activity damaged the [[Natural environment|environment]], there was a [[civic duty]] to maintain the environment for future generations, and scientific, empirically based methods should be applied to ensure this duty was carried out. [[James Ranald Martin]] was prominent in promoting this ideology, publishing many [[Epidemiology|medico-topographical]] reports that demonstrated the scale of damage wrought through large-scale deforestation and desiccation, and lobbying extensively for the [[Institutionalisation|institutionalization]] of forest conservation activities in [[British India]] through the establishment of [[Indian Forest Service|Forest Departments]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Stebbing |first=E.P |author-link=Edward Percy Stebbing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cAHAQAAIAAJ |title=The Forests of India |year=1922 |volume=1 |pages=72–81 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120035/https://books.google.com/books?id=9cAHAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=27 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Madras]] Board of Revenue started local conservation efforts in 1842, headed by [[Alexander Gibson (botanist)|Alexander Gibson]], a professional [[botany|botanist]] who systematically adopted a forest conservation programme based on scientific principles. This was the first case of state management of forests in the world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barton |first=Greg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WDYlNljAP5AC |title=Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=9781139434607 |page=48 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120034/https://books.google.com/books?id=WDYlNljAP5AC |archive-date=27 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Eventually, the government under [[Governor-General of India|Governor-General]] [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|Lord Dalhousie]] introduced the first permanent and large-scale forest conservation programme in the world in 1855, a model that soon spread to [[British empire|other colonies]], as well as the [[United States]]. In 1860, the Department banned the use of [[shifting cultivation]].<ref>{{cite news |last=MUTHIAH |first=S. |date=5 November 2007 |title=A life for forestry |url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/11/05/stories/2007110550080500.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071108213227/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/11/05/stories/2007110550080500.htm |archive-date=8 November 2007 |access-date=9 March 2009 |work=[[The Hindu]] |location=Chennai, India}}</ref> [[Hugh Francis Cleghorn|Hugh Cleghorn]]'s 1861 manual, ''The forests and gardens of South India'', became the definitive work on the subject and was widely used by forest assistants in the subcontinent.<ref name="Cleghorn">{{cite book |last=Cleghorn |first=Hugh Francis Clarke |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZbC9FY1JqIC |title=The Forests and Gardens of South India |publisher=W. H. Allen |year=1861 |location=London |oclc=301345427 |access-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200315024455/https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZbC9FY1JqIC&hl=en |archive-date=15 March 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Oliver |first=J.W. |title=The Indian Forester |publisher=R. P. Sharma |year=1901 |volume=27 |location=Allahabad |pages=617–623 |chapter=Forestry in India |access-date=27 October 2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2U8YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA623 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408122919/https://books.google.com/books?id=2U8YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA623 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Dietrich Brandis]] joined the British service in 1856 as superintendent of the teak forests of Pegu division in eastern [[Myanmar|Burma]]. During that time Burma's [[teak]] forests were controlled by militant [[Karen people|Karen]] tribals. He introduced the "taungya" system,<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=KFS |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44smPw8a594C |title=Agro-silviculture (the taungya system) |publisher=University of Ibadan / Dept. of Forestry |year=1968 |series=Bulletin no. 1 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120037/https://books.google.com/books?id=44smPw8a594C |archive-date=27 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> in which Karen villagers provided labour for clearing, planting, and weeding teak plantations. Also, he formulated new forest legislation and helped establish research and training institutions. Brandis as well as founded the Imperial Forestry School at Dehradun.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weil |first1=Benjamin |year=2006 |title=Conservation, Exploitation, and Cultural Change in the Indian Forest Service, 1875–1927 |journal=Environmental History |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=319–343 |doi=10.1093/envhis/11.2.319 |jstor=3986234}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gadgil |first1=Madhav |author-link1=Madhav Gadgil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jmr9n7aoRR4C |title=This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India |last2=Guha |first2=Ramachandra |author-link2=Ramachandra Guha |publisher=University of California Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780520082960 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527120036/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jmr9n7aoRR4C |archive-date=27 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>