ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY IN INDIAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS

Abstract

The deepening climate crisis, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, soil degradation, and unsustainable consumption patterns have renewed scholarly interest in ethical frameworks that can guide more responsible relationships between humans and the natural world. Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) offer an important civilizational perspective because they combine metaphysical reflection, moral responsibility, community practices, and ecological prudence. This chapter expands the discussion of environmental ethics and sustainability in IKS by examining philosophical principles such as rta, dharma, ahimsa, aparigraha, panchamahabhuta, and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, and by connecting them with traditional ecological practices such as sacred groves, Vrikshayurveda, natural farming, and indigenous water-harvesting systems. The chapter also discusses how contemporary policies, including the National Education Policy 2020 and higher education guidelines on IKS, create space for integrating indigenous ecological knowledge into education, research, and community engagement. Rather than presenting IKS as a substitute for modern environmental science, the chapter argues for a dialogic and evidence-informed integration in which traditional values, local knowledge, scientific validation, and participatory governance work together. The chapter concludes that IKS can contribute to sustainability discourse by offering a value-based, non-anthropocentric, and community-oriented ecological paradigm, provided it is applied critically, inclusively, and contextually.