Paper short abstract:

By analysing the role of local environmental NGOs and environmental think tanks working towards the conservation of the river Yamuna in Delhi, India, the paper explores the diverse informal/formal means environmentalists directly/indirectly influence urban environmental governance.

Paper long abstract:

While the rejuvenation of India's rivers is a major future challenge for sustainable urban development, large-scale riverfront development projects across India indicate that the riverbed is often seen almost exclusively as real estate ripe for development. In Delhi, channelization of the Yamuna and riverfront development has been discussed since the late 1970s based on models of European riverfronts. Recently urban mega-projects have been realized on the river's floodplain resulting in a wakeup call for environmentalists emphasizing on the ecological integrity of the river and the close relationship between the river and the city. These developments and the hybrid character of Yamuna's riverscapes - landscape/waterscape, urban/rural, natural/anthropogenic, flow/extraction, purity/pollution - evoke various questions of socio-environmental sustainability and justice. In contrast to the well-described environmentalism of the poor, recent scholarship on Indian

environmentalism has focused on the conflicting outcomes of middle-class conservation agendas and beautification movements - commonly termed bourgeois environmentalism. Although critically engaging with middle-class activism in general, this paper challenges this seemingly clear dichotomy

by analysing the different roles of local environmental NGOs and environmental think tanks (e.g. CSE, WWF India) in urban environmental governance. Based on interviews with environmentalists and officials (2010-2013), this paper stresses that especially small and locally-based environmental NGOs - although middle-class dominated - do not exclusively strive for middle class interests, but rather endeavour ecological sustainability and social justice. By focusing on their day-to-day practices and networks the paper explores the diverse informal/formal means environmentalists directly/indirectly negotiate with the multi-layered state - always balancing between protest, petitioning, and policy counselling.