IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 18, Issue 6 (Nov. - Dec. 2013), PP 68-76 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 68 | Page NGOs and Environment Protection in Assam Jhimli Bhattacharjee Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Assam University, Silchar Abstract: Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) are found to play a significant role in environment protection. They are found to be involved in different spheres of environmental activities like protecting biodiversity, reducing environmental pollution and also promoting sustainable livelihood of the people living in close proximity with nature. The present paper shows the role environmental NGOs play in environment protection in Assam, India on the basis of case studies of some major NGOs of Assam. I. Introduction NGOs are occupying a significant place in the different arenas of life. Each sphere of life is now protruded by the NGOs. The role of NGOs or action groups in different sectors is vehemently discussed in different academia along with the realization by the government machineries and the world level organizations like United Nations. The growing challenges to the environment because of the growth oriented development paradigm of the state both in developed and developing countries can be considered as the very cause of the growth of NGOs which have taken up the issue of sustainability and have come up with different actions to combat the problems related to environment safety and sustainability of earth time to time. Though there were organizations which already started to take up the issue of conservation of wildlife even in the last decade of nineteenth century e.g. Sierra Club, which came up in 1892 , the concern for environment and wildlife gradually increased in later years. While the decade of forties and fifties of last century show the appearance of major organizations concerned with environment and wild life, the upsurge of NGOs are seen mainly in seventies and onwards, because of the growing consciousness on environment and threat to nature. This was evident in 1972 Stockholm conference which had drawn a large number of NGOs from the different corners of the world to deal with the issue of development and environment. The 1992 Earth Summit is the landmark for understanding the role of NGOs in environment protection when we find that more than thousand NGOs participated in the summit and took up different initiatives to save the mother earth. Gradually the role of NGOs in environment protection is increasing with the formation of new organizations both at national level and grass root level which not only take the local environmental issues , but also issues which are of global significance. The increasing importance and role of NGOs in different sectors especially in environment protection makes it necessary to have a knowledge of the grass root level organizations and their activities in environment protection and biodiversity conservation. The present paper thus tries to study the role of NGOs in Assam in India on the basis of the field study of some select NGOs which are primarily involved in environment protection and biodiversity conservation in the state . Role of Action Groups Revisited The role of NGOs is a marked feature for the present era. Small grass root groups and larger urban based NGOs and International organizations have placed environment on the national agenda as well as global agenda. Since the beginning of the 1970s, a number of action groups have raised very crucial issues of environmental policies, like the need for forest conservation, the environmental impact assessment of various multipurpose dam projects and to protect rights of the people affected by the governments or industrial organizations lack of concern for environmental hazards of the undertakings. Very few studies on the role of NGOs in environmental movements have been done separately. Leilah Landin in her study found that NGOs play a major role in organizing popular movements in Brazil. Landing says that in 1988 Brazil had 447 entities that defined themselves as being at the service of popular groups and movements: 565 entities dealt with the question of blacks ; 196 entities dedicated to women : and 402 entities linked to ecology. Landin 1 also says that the groups that are classified as ecological NGOs in Brazil are characterized by high degree of informality and voluntarism and fragmented into minute and localized groups .What they form on is significantly diverse. These are preservation of the environment, defense of flora and fauna, organic 1 Landin, Leila, 1993 “Brazilian Crossroads: People‟s Groups , Wall and Bridges” in PonnaWignaraja (ed) New Social Movements in the South , Sage Publications ,New Delhi