Environmental movements in the global South - Issues of livelihood and beyond

This article looks at the struggles and actions over environmental issues in the context of the developing world. Drawing on some well-known cases across three continents, Asia, Africa and Latin America, the article looks at the strengths and weaknesses of the 'livelihood approach' that seems to dominate the analysis of environmental movements. It is argued that while the livelihood approach may be appropriate to explain resource conflicts, the study of movements requires attention on political variables: actors, stakes and practices, and so forth. The article therefore calls for a forceful integration of collective action and social movement theories with livelihood approaches to better understand environmental movements.