Eco cinema as an advocacy intervention for community engagement for wetland conservation in India

Abstract

Wetlands are often recognized as the most biologically diverse ecosystem (Andy and Mike 2003). Due to the ever-increasing pressure of urbanization, Indian wetland areas are shrinking fast. Dhanuari Wetland in Uttar Pradesh, India, is the biggest breeding ground of Sarus Crane. Sarus Crane is one of the world’s fifteen known crane species found only in India and South-eastern Asia. Sarus is listed as a "vulnerable species" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (BirdLife International 2016). Sustainable management of wetlands require active local community engagement and effective public campaigns for wetlands policy awareness (Zebardast, L.et al (2020). The research team engaged the community of farmers in participatory action research using photovoice (Latz, 2012; Wang & Burris, 1997) followed by 14 Focus Group Discussion with 140 participants to identify communication gap between conservation projects and the community. Thematic content analysis of the recorded responses underlined the efficacy of Eco cinema in creating a powerful visual narrative. The study also highlighted that films may bring increased awareness but to achieve significant mitigation action, it is prudent to consider combining Eco cinema with other on-the-ground interventions.