Forests of Life
Forests of Life
A journey through India’s forests.
Forests of Life, a climate festival that celebrates the joy of nature, is being organised by Azim Premji University in our campuses at Bengaluru and Bhopal.
The festival, the second in our annual series, follows the Rivers of Life festival, held in 2022. It is a celebration of forests, the ancient repositories of wisdom that we depend on, along with many other species that share the planet with us.
Through diverse perspectives from the point of view of urban dwellers, indigenous communities, and wildlife, we will explore the idea of the forest, engaging with youth — school and college students — across different parts of the country.
Like all journeys, Forests of Life is a quest, a search, a yatra—where we collect stories, piece together timelines, and create new tales. The fate of our forests, lakes, and rivers lies in the hands of future generations.
Through the festival, we seek to engage intensively with children and young adults, beginning a new collective exploration together. Following a countrywide call, we selected a large cohort of interns who have collectively travelled through more than 110 diverse forests across the length and breadth of India.
Each story from this diverse collection adds a different perspective to our knowledge, helping us to better understand the role of these ancient beings in shaping our common and collective future, on the only planet we have.
Each story reveals different shades of the forest. Some narratives speak of sustaining forest-dependent livelihoods, others describe the challenges of human-animal conflicts. Some describe the deep association of indigenous communities with nature, while others discuss value chains that can positively contribute to improved livelihoods.
Through these narratives, we look at successful wildlife relocations and learn about inspirational stories of individuals and communities who conserve our last remaining wildlands.
Our aim is to travel on this journey, together with you. With students, researchers, practitioners, and everyone who is, like us, in love with the forest.
From 2 to 14 Nov 2023 (Bengaluru) and from 16 to 21 Jan 2024 (Bhopal), we invite you to join us in this festival of shared storytelling. Guided through the perspectives of young interns, researchers and practitioners, through images, installations, interactive talks, and folklore around forests.
We invite you to the world of forests!
