Green Social Work in India: An Indigenous Perspective
The intensifying ecological crisis has underscored the need for social work to engage more directly with environmental justice, sustainability, and climate resilience. Green Social Work (GSW), as conceptualised by Dominelli (2012), expands the traditional scope of social work by linking environmental degradation with social inequality and human rights. In the Indian context, environmental challenges such as climate change, deforestation, and pollution disproportionately affect marginalised populations, including tribal communities, rural poor, and urban informal settlements (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2023). At the same time, India possesses rich indigenous ecological knowledge systems that have historically sustained environmental balance through community-based practices and ethical stewardship (Gadgil & Guha, 1992). This paper critically examines Green Social Work from an indigenous perspective by integrating ecological theory, environmental justice frameworks, and Indian traditional knowledge systems. Using a conceptual and critical review of authentic scholarly sources, the study argues that indigenous ecological knowledge provides both normative and practical foundations for contextualising GSW in India. The paper proposes an indigenous Green Social Work framework that strengthens culturally relevant practice, promotes ecological justice, and contributes to the Indianisation of the social work profession.