7th CMS VATAVARAN Environment and Wildlife Film Festival and Forum 2013

MILESTONES

  • The theme of the sixth edition of the CMS VATAVARAN competitive Film Festival was Biodiversity. The jury consisting of 37 members selected 68 films for nominations (51 Indian & 17 international films) out of more than 300 entries for the film festival from 15 nations of the world. The 2011 VATAVARAN happened to be in a new avatar as the Indian audiences for the first time came face to face with foreign commissioners, international co-production houses during the Asian Filmmakers Summit, which was held as part of CMS VATAVARAN.
  • The fourth CMS VATAVARAN Environment and Wildlife Travelling Film Festival and Environment Forum’s theme was Climate Change and Sustainable Technologies. Over 400 films were screened in 8 cities at multiple venues. Series of panel discussion on the theme “Confronting Climate Change: Towards Carbon Neutral Indian Cities” were organized across these cities.
  • The fifth CMS VATAVARAN Competitive Film Festival’s theme was Climate Change and Sustainable Technologies. The festival attracted 366 entries from 20 Indian states and 23 foreign countries. Twenty two programmes were organised including workshop on confronting climate change, international environmental journalists congress, seminar on eco-tourism and climate change primer for teachers.
  • The third Travelling Film Festival, 2008-2009, held in eight cities (with the highlight on climate change) screened 304 films over 24 days. Seminars, symposiums, technical workshops, painting competitions, exhibitions, games, talks and eco-trips were held. Six national and 51 state partners lent support and 80,000 participants attended.
  • Awards for technical excellence and the Young Environmental Journalist Award were initiated. Based on climate change, the festival drew 275 entries from 18 Indian states and 18 countries. Workshops, panel discussions, exhibitions, summits, and a seminar on the state of Indian rivers were also held. Noted filmmaker Shyam Benegal was the jury chairperson
  • The Travelling Festival went overseas to Abu Dhabi and Sao Paulo apart from touring Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kashmir, Kolkata, Pune, Ranchi and Sirmour.
  • The third CMS VATAVARAN Competitive Film Festival received 244 entries in various environment and wildlife categories. The festival theme was forest for life and 5,000 people attended. There were 134 new filmmakers and nine awards worth INR 10 lakhs. The Steering Committee was chaired by Dr. Karan Singh, eminent scholar and a member of parliament, and the final jury was headed by Shyam Benegal.
  • The first Travelling Festival of CMS VATAVARAN Film Festival went to Chennai, Coimbatore and Mumbai. People began recognising and supporting the CMS VATAVARAN environment awareness movement.
  • The second CMS VATAVARAN Competitive Film Festival became biennial, it saw 154 entries and a year round outreach programmes. CMS and UNEP instituted an award ‘Prithvi Ratna’ for extraordinary contribution to wildlife filmmaking and natural history. The festival celebrated water for life theme
  • India’s one and only environment and wildlife Film Festival – CMS VATAVARAN - began its maiden run. It served a dual purpose – one, generating awareness on environmental issues, and, two, lending recognition to the endeavours of environment and wildlife filmmakers. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India

Let us usher in the year of COP-11 and UN Decade for Biodiversity with joy.

India has so far documented over 91,200 species of animals and 45,500 species of plants in its ten bio-geographic regions. In addition, nearly 91,212 of faunal species (7.43% of the world’s faunal species) have been recorded in the country. Endemic rich Indian fauna is manifested most prominently in Amphibia (61.2%) and Reptilia (47%). Likewise, Indian fish fauna includes two endemic families and 127 monotypic genera. As per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List (2008), India has 413 globally threatened faunal species, which is approximately 4.9% of the world’s total number of threatened faunal species.

It is recognised as one of the eight Vavilovian centres of origin and diversity of crop plants, having more than 300 wild ancestors and close relatives of cultivated plants, which are still evolving under natural conditions.

  


Continuous surveys and explorations have added new discoveries – 41 plant species in 2007 by Botanical Survey of India (BSI) alone. The unique features of the plant diversity, among others, include 60 monotypic families and over 6,000 endemic species. Recent estimates indicate the presence of over 256 globally threatened plant species in India.

India’s contribution to crop biodiversity has been impressive, with repositories of over 50,000 varieties of rice, 5,000 of sorghum and 1,000 varieties of mango, among others. The National Gene Bank, primarily responsible for ex-situ conservation of unique germplasm on a long-term basis, holds 3,66,933 unique accessions of plant genetic resources. India is the third largest producer of fish in the world. A database on 2,182 fishes found in Indian waters has been developed, which includes 327 freshwater species listed in IUCN threat categories and 192 endemic fishes.

  


Two global hot-spots exist in India: the Eastern Himalaya and the Western Ghats. They contribute prominently in geographic extent, biophysical and socio-cultural diversity and uniqueness. The extent of species endemism in vascular plants alone ranges from 32 to 40% in the mountain ecosystems. Other groups, such as reptiles, amphibians and fish show more than 50% of species endemism in the Western Ghats. Of the 979 bird species recorded from the Himalayan region, four Endemic Bird Areas have been delineated for priority

conservation measures and likewise, identification of “Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs)” has been initiated in Western Ghats. At present, there are 137 Protected Areas (PAs) (47,208 sq km) in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) and 88 PAs (13,695 sq km) in Western Ghats.



Source: India’s Fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, New Delhi, 2009.

  

Back