‘Faces of Climate Resilience’ – a short documentary series of 16 films – is based on the stories of communities in five climate-resilient states.
‘Faces of Climate Resilience’ – a short documentary series of 16 films – is based on the stories of communities in five climate-resilient states.
Women from 10 self-help groups from Tandhara village in Odisha’s Puri district are raising a forest that will provide protection from water, especially seawater intrusion, that destroys their fields. He planted casuarina trees along the beach to prevent coastal erosion as the frequency and intensity of cyclones is increasing in the area. Elsewhere, in Kalu village in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district, a ‘community facilitation centre’ helps herders build climate resilience by storing water for cattle in a drought-prone area and women from Kharkiya village in Uttarakhand’s Almora district are engaged in forest protection. Helps fight fire. And the nearby house, from Kuttanad, has stories of people like Thomas Joseph, who built houses on pillars to live with the constant, imminent fear of floods.
Members of a women’s group gather in a stretch of forest scorched by one of the many forest fires that ravaged Sheetlakhet in Uttarakhand’s Almora district. As forest fires have increased rapidly in recent years, Mahila Mangal Dal works closely with state forest department officials in firefighting. , photo credit: Sean Sebastian
These are part of a short documentary series the faces of climate resilience Covers 16 stories of climate resilience filmed in the five most climate-sensitive states of India – Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Each film has been shot in the districts that featured a ‘Climate Risk Atlas’ mapped by the Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). The films, produced in collaboration with the EdelGive Foundation and Drokpa Films, were commissioned by the non-profit Policy Research Institute and will be uploaded to their YouTube channel in time for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27). It will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 6 to 18 November.
Despite the urgency surrounding climate change, these films are not bleak and hopeless. “These shorts bring to the fore the stories of ‘humanizing’ climate change, communities building climate resilience and how people are adapting despite climate challenges,” says Sean Sebastian. He directed short films of three to four minutes, filmed over a period of nine months in 2021-2022, in which he traveled the length and breadth of the country, discovering and filming stories.
The frequency of floods in the Kuttanad region of Kerala, the lowest elevation in India, has increased significantly in recent years. With no means to buy a plot of land elsewhere, residents like Thomas Joseph are rebuilding their houses on pillars so that they can continue to live there. , photo credit: Sean Sebastian
Although CEEW had climate risk maps and input resources, there were others such as reposted news, local journalists, social workers and people’s representatives. The stories would have been bleak initially, but Shawn says, “We were impressed by the resilience of the people. Positive stories of survivors and how they have adapted to the climate change that is creeping on them. People are doing all they can to adapt within their abilities/limitations. We got to see two sides of the impact of climate change: It was painful.”
The impact of climate change is multifaceted. Apart from the obvious, the impact extends to lives and livelihoods. For example, in Puri, although the families were relocated, the traditional livelihood has been lost. These shorts also provide solutions suggested by stakeholders, who are also storytellers. Apart from heavy research, each film has been scrutinized by a panel of scientists.
Movies will be screened every Friday on CEEW’s YouTube channel.