Purpose Climate Lab created a movement of young Mumbaikars with organising power, social influence and creative potential to lead an inclusive and active movement demanding the protection and enhancement of biodiversity and green spaces in their city.
Challenge
In the last 40 years, Mumbai has lost 60% of its green cover. The city has rich biodiversity that is threatened every day by development and climate change.
Approach
Taking pride and responsibility for the biodiversity of Mumbai, what if young citizens embraced their identity as Mumbaikars and pioneered a movement to protect the city that they love?
The environmental movement in Mumbai was vocal but fragmented- while progressive millennial Mumbaikars were interested in making a change for their city, they didn’t have avenues to participate in constructive action. They have immense creativity and social cache, but are wary of political dialogue and engagement for climate and biodiversity.
We needed to inspire young Indians to use their creativity and collective power to fight for Mumbai’s environment, and to connect the identity of Mumbai to its incredible biodiversity.
Theory of Change
Mumbai’s Ministry of Magic (MMM) is a platform to unite young Indians and showcase their collective action, engaging them to push local government representation to act more intentionally to protect Mumbai’s parks, its biodiversity hotspots, and the habitats of endangered species.
The goal of the project was to bring new voices into the climate movement and experiment with new approaches to climate change and youth engagement. We collaborated with artists, musicians and performers to find new entry points into the biodiversity conversation.
To combat climate change fatigue, we created a platform aesthetic that spoke to our audience in a tone and format that appealed to them and focused on progress and Mumbai’s ‘magic.’ Our interventions focused heavily on creativity and original content.
Branding
Purpose developed the brand identity as a symbolic representation of where biodiversity thrives – with the M’s forming trees and mountains. The use of negative space indicates the spread of disruptive thinking.
Mumbai’s Biodiversity Map
The interactive biodiversity map acts as an open source educational tool for citizens of Mumbai to learn more about the biodiversity of their city and what they can do to protect it.
The illustrated map by Rohan Chakravarty (Green Humour) highlights the vast biodiversity that thrives within the Mumbai metropolitan region. This map is the first of its kind, and is intended to inspire pride in all of Mumbai’s treasures. It shows our audience how they are connected to Mumbai’s biodiversity, and brings new voices into the conversation.
This iconic map highlights the flora, fauna, green spaces and indigenous communities of this region which remain hidden in the hustle and bustle of our City of Dreams.
Media Attention
The Mumbai Biodiversity Map received widespread media attention and was featured in national and international media, including The Guardian, Mumbai Mirror, Mumbai Live, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Weather Channel, The Indian Express, Citizen Matters, Deccan Herald, Mid-Day and more.
Letter to the Environment Minister
By utilizing storytelling to showcase the unique biodiversity of Mumbai, our audience was able to express themselves and provide solutions-based actions through activations such as a letter to the Environment Minister.
The letter’s aim was to create a channel of communication between Aaditya Thackeray (State Environment Minister) and our collective in order to build public momentum for policy change in protecting Mumbai’s biodiversity.
Digital Festival
By engaging with spokespeople our audience looks up to and listens to, Purpose found new entry points into the biodiversity conversation. We engaged Mumbaikers by partnering with new influencers across comedy, art, photography and new forms of media who hadn’t spoken up about biodiversity before the campaign.
Through Biodiversity by the Bay, Purpose Climate Lab was able to help turn collective power into collective action. By providing accessible resources and organizing digitally, we were able to grow a collective that youth aspire to be a part of.
Over 600 young Mumbaikars shared demands with the Municipal Corporation for improving accessibility and inclusivity of public green spaces. Forest, coastal and adivasi communities also mobilized through storytelling about their art and connectedness with natural resources.
With over 6,000 young people signing the letter to the Environment Minister of Maharashtra, Aaditya Thackeray, he acknowledged and supported their demands in a tweet response.
The campaign also included expert consultations with urban planners, environmentalists, green citizen groups and local activists, policy think tanks, and researchers to grow legitimacy for policy asks.
for Equity & Evidence