The five-day festival at India Habitat Centre (IHC) saw the who's who from the field of environment and wildlife conservation in India and around the world converge at the screenings and a range of workshops.
The Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE), New Delhi was the principal partner in the festival for the third consecutive year.
Out of the array of 106 films, 73 were from India-based and 33 from international directors with themes ranging from man-animal conflict to the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) corridor.
With an eye on the crucial climate change talks between nations a little over a month away at Copenhagen, Denmark, the festival's theme this year was Climate Change and Sustainable Technologies.
Dr Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, inaugurated the festival and said that the developed nations, especially the US, should have liberal policies for transfer of technologies for clean energy production in poor and developing nations, like India.
Apart from films, the festival also had seminars, workshops and exhibitions on various aspects of Climate Change and sustainable technologies.
Speaking at the inaugural of the CMS Environment flagship workshop- Towards Carbon Neutral Cities, Ambassador, Ann Ollestad, stated the Norwegian Government’s priorities with identification of policy requirements, strategies and programmes and public and private sector opportunities, vis-á-vis Climate Change and its implications.
To provide a unique North-South perspective on climate change negotiations, prior to the key UN Climate Change conference (COP15) at Copenhagen in December 2009, a group of 15 professional journalists from South Asia, Europe (including three from Norway) and America were invited for an ‘International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ)’ meeting. The meeting provided a great opportunity to the journalists to share views and experiences on reporting on the climate change issue.
Two Trainers from the Norwegian Institute of Journalism also facilitated training of journalists – including media studies faculty and a few students – in tools like using the Web for Investigative Journalism and Excel in a workshop at the festival.
During the five-day event, an environment exhibition under the banner of “Norwegian Climate Change policy and initiatives”, was designed and hosted by RNE to showcase key Norwegian environmental knowledge and expertise available to help tackle climate change related issues. This included a strong focus on information about the Embassy’s work in India in terms of Norway’s climate change policy- and targets, development initiatives, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, and the Ministry of Finance’s carbon scheme. The stall was received by visitors.
The premier environment and wildlife film festival successfully culminated with a glittering award ceremony on October 30 at IHC with 25 awards in 15 Indian categories and 10 awards in nine international categories.