Which historical environmental protection movement in Kerala successfully halted a major hydroelectric dam project across the Kunthipuzha River to preserve a pristine tropical evergreen rainforest rich in endangered endemic species?

💡 Solution & Explanation

The Silent Valley Movement in the late 1970s and 1980s was spearheaded by scientists, local communities, and environmentalists to protect the tropical evergreen rain forests of Palakkad district from being submerged by the Kerala State Electricity Board's proposed hydroelectric dam on the Kunthipuzha River. Appiko took place in Karnataka, Chipko in Uttarakhand, and Gandhamardan in Odisha. The successful campaign led to the creation of Silent Valley National Park, protecting the habitat of the Lion-tailed macaque.