The Chipko Movement was a grassroots environmental movement that began in India in the 1970s. It was a nonviolent protest against the destruction of forests and the displacement of local people by commercial logging. The movement was led by local women, who embraced the trees to prevent them from being cut down.
From Wikipedia
The Chipko movement is a forest conservation movement in India. Opposed to commercial logging and the government's policies on deforestation, protesters in the 1970s engaged in tree hugging, wrapping their arms around trees so that they could not be felled.