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WWF-India’s campaign on Forests

Cities for Forests

June 2011

International Year of Forests

About the campaign

Cities for Forests

•Introduction

•WWF-India’s campaign on forests

•Cities for Forests campaign

•Outreach and promotion

IntroductionWWF-India and International Year of the forests

•2011 has been declared as the International Year of the Forests (IYF) by the United Nations

•WWF has globally launched the Living Forests campaign.

•WWF-India has been engaged in raising awareness, inspiring action and building environmental stewardship for over four decades, and conserving forests is an important part of our mission.

•This year presents an opportunity to raise awareness about the urgent need to conserve the world’s forests, and encourage our societies to contribute towards their sustained survival.

WWF-India’s campaign on forests

What is it?WWF-India’s ‘Cities for Forests’ is a national level public campaign focusing on raising awareness about the intrinsic link between forests and human wellbeing amongst the youth.

WWF-India’s campaign on forests‘Cities for Forests’

Who can participate?Everyone. Anyone who is passionate about environment and conservation and believes in the power of individual action.

Who is the main audience?The primary focus of the campaign is urban youth.

When and where?The campaign was launched on 30th July through the WWF network across approximately 20 cities, and will culminate during the Wildlife Week in October.

Events were organized to kick start the campaign in New Delhi, Valsad, Baroda, Bangalore, Shimla, Dehradun, Haldwani, Kaladhungi, kolkata, Jabalpur, Chhindwara, and Mandla, involving the youth to raise awareness about the importance of urban forests and green spaces in and around their cities.

‘Cities for Forests’ launch in New Delhi

Volunteers forming a human chain holding up placards carrying conservation messages

Hundreds of environment enthusiasts and nature lovers gathered at Nelson Mandela Marg to support the campaign and raise awareness about Delhi’s green spaces

Supporters hanging ‘lungs’ on nearby trees, highlighting their importance in providing fresh air

to city dwellers.

‘Cities for Forests’ launch in Dehradun

More than 300 individuals from diverse backgrounds, housewives, senior citizens, students, and forest officials marched across Rajpur Road, Dehradun, to show support for forests.

Supporters holding up banners and signage at the start of the march

The crowd marching along Rajpur Road raising awareness on forests

Cities for ForestsCampaign brief

•The urban youth will be encouraged to explore the various forest resources consumed by their cities, and organize a trip to the nearby forest that supports these needs to experience its biodiversity and health.

•They will be asked to record the experience and findings of this trip in the form of stories, essays, reports, poems, videos, songs, photo stories, presentations, even sketches, paintings, and any other creative forms, and share them with us by uploading these on our website dedicated to this campaign. A gratification /contest will be run to generate interest.

•WWF-India will synthesize this information and collate the best findings from each city.

•During the Wildlife Week, WWF-India along with partners, will organize events across these cities inviting key decision- makers of the city, and present some of the best findings, with an aim to build youth pressure towards sustainable management of urban forests.

WWF-India’s campaign on forests‘Cities for Forests’

What does the campaign ask us to do?Cities for Forests encourages urban youth to find the forest that supports their city, visit it to understand its biodiversity and overall health, and be a part of the movement to build environmental literacy through experiential learning.

Call to action and methodology-Visit your city’s forest and let us know your findings (digital- to be done through the campaign website, www.citiesforforests.in)- Inputs obtained to be synthesized, later presented jointly, to local decision-makers as a youth petition for change.-Winning entries to be recognized as ‘Forest Champions’ of their city by WWF-India-Individuals can undertake their own initiatives, for instance:

•Find out which are the biggest/oldest/most useful trees in your city. Pin them up on the map online. Develop a national resource through this activity.•Organize restoration and plantation activities in their areas.

Websitewww.citiesforforests.in

This website will be the central platform to upload and share information and interact with like minded individuals.

This is how the website looks

Home Page

Uploads section

Individuals can upload videos, pictures, stories and presentations on their visit to a forest area of green space in their city. Other can also view uploaded information here.

Here, individuals can share their ideas about how they can save their city’s forests, and interact with each other

List of confirmed cities where the campaign will run

Delhi Jammu Guwahati T’v’puram

Mumbai Dehradun Gangtok Kochi

Bangalore Shimla Bhubaneshwar Kolkata

Hyderabad Bhopal Vadodara Bilaspur

Chhindwara Kanpur Valsad Ramnagar

Haldwani Jabalpur

And more as we move along.

How you can support

1. To partner with WWF-India in running the Cities for Forests campaign.

2. Editorial and Promotion support.

3. Outreach to the schools network

4. Digital promotion

(talk about the campaign online, run joint contests related to the campaign, develop an online campaign)

- Amplifying the campaign message on social media space

5. Create joint activities- online or if possible, on-ground, to get the message out to a wider spectrum of audience.

3. Run promos of the campaign – online, outdoor, print,

4. Anything else that you can suggest or advise!

www.wwfindia.orgwww.citiesforforests.in