On 2 September, two major new initiatives that have been inspired by India’s historic G20 Presidency were announced and discussed at a curtain-raiser event and panel discussion in New Delhi. The Great People’s Forest of the Eastern Himalayas and Planet India have both answered the call of ‘One Earth. One Family. One Future’ with a bold and creative approach to positive environmental action led by India. The event was hosted in partnership by the Balipara Foundation, Conservation International, creator economy platform Pluc.TV, and filmmakers Studio Silverback.
The Great People’s Forest of the Eastern Himalayas will be one of the most significant conservation efforts in the history of South Asia. This ground-breaking initiative is a partnership led by the Balipara Foundation of Assam and Conservation International. It will involve communities across Bangladesh, the North East of India, Nepal, and Bhutan working to protect and restore forests for the benefit of local livelihoods and the planet. The Eastern Himalayan region is of vast human, cultural, and ecological significance to the planet. From the world’s tallest mountains, two of our most important rivers, the world’s largest delta, and the globe’s largest mangrove forest, it is a vast store of biodiversity relied on by 1 billion people. Supporting this effort, Rajasthan Royals have joined The Great People’s Forest of the Eastern Himalayas, in one of the most innovative partnerships between a world-leading sporting franchise and a major environmental initiative ever undertaken.
Planet India is a first-of-its-kind powerful visual storytelling campaign celebrating India’s solutions to the climate and nature crisis, premiering at Bikaner House on the 5th of September 2023, during the G20. In partnership with multi-award winning filmmakers Studio Silverback, the makers behind Sir David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet and India’s leading creator economy platform PlucTV, Planet India will showcase the human-driven stories from every angle across the country. Locations covered include the likes of the mountains of Himachal Pradesh, the bustle of New Delhi, the forests of Assam and the lakes of Bangalore, showing how people are responding first-hand using innovative techniques to the urgent climate crisis.
The storytelling campaign will launch onto multiple social platforms ahead of the G20 Summit as the world’s attention turns to New Delhi and a film featuring international superstar Jackie Shroff will premiere on Jio Cinema later this year. In a world-first, Planet India will place this world-class footage for free onto Open Planet, an open-source platform, creating an unprecedented visual storytelling toolkit which empowers everyone to share their Planet India stories. Rajasthan Royals will also be seen using their social media platforms to take these stories to global audiences.
